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yOU   CAN   REE   THE   P.AFT,  Sue— Page  121. 


ROLLO  LEARNING  TO  READ. 


oXXc 


THE   ROLLO   SERIES 


IS   COMPOSED   OF   FOURTEEN   VOLUMES,    VIZ.  ! 


Rollo  Learning  to  Talk. 
Rollo  Learning  to  Read. 
Rollo  at  Work. 
Rollo  at.  Play. 
Rollo  at  School. 
Rollo's  Vacation. 
Rollo's  Experiments. 


Rollo's  Museum. 
Rollo's  Travels. 
Rollo's  Correspondence. 
Rollo's  Philosophy  —  Water 
Rollo's  Philosophy  —  Air. 
Rollo's  Philosophy  —  Fire. 
Rollo's  Philosophy  —  Sky. 


A  NEW  EDITION,   REVISED  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


NEW   YORK 

THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL   &  CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1855,  by 

PHILLIPS,  SAMPSON  &  CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Masse 

chusetts. 


NOTICE   TO   PARENTS. 


In  those  intervals  of  rest  which  the  serious  cares 
and  labors  of  life  imperiously  demand,  a  man  may 
find  the  best  amusement  for  himself  in  efforts  for 
the  amusement  of  children.  This  little  work  and 
its  predecessor,  "  Rollo  Learning  to  Talk,"  have 
been  written  on  this  principle. 

Parents  find  it  very  difficult  to  employ  little  chil- 
dren. "Mother,  what  shall  I  do?"  and  sometimes 
even,  "  Mother,  what  shall  I  do  after  I  have  done 
this  ? "  are  heard  so  often  that  they  sometimes  ex- 
haust even  maternal  patience.  These  little  volumes 
will,  we  hope,  in  some  cases,  provide  an  answer  to 
the  questions.  The  writer  has  endeavored  to  make 
them  such  that  children  would  take  an  interest  in 
reading  them  to  themselves,  and  to  their  younger 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  in  repeating  them  to  one 
another. 

The  difficulty  with  most  books  intended  for  chil- 
dren just  learning  to  read,  is,  that  the  writers  make 
so  much  effort  to  confine  themselves  to  words  of  one 
syllable,  that  the  style  is  quaint  and  uninteresting, 
1* 


VI  NOTICE    TO    PARENTS. 

and  often  far  more  unintelligible  than  the  usual  lan- 
guage would  be.  The  author's  design  here  has 
been,  first  to  interest  the  little  reader,  hoping,  by 
this  interest,  to  allure  him  on  to  the  encounter  of 
the  difficulties  in  the  language,  and  to  the  conquest 
of  them.  Hence,  the  more  difficult  words  and 
phrases,  in  common  use,  are  not  avoided,  for  the 
very  object  of  such  a  reading  book  should  be  to 
teach  the  use  of  them.  They  are  freely  introduced 
and  rendered  intelligible  by  being  placed  in  strik- 
ing connections,  and  familiar,  by  being  frequently 
repeated.  By  a  wonderful  provision  in  the  struc- 
ture of  the  mind,  children  thirst  for  repetition, — 
the  very  thing  essential  to  give  security  and  per- 
manence to  the  knowledge  they  acquire. 

The  subjects  of  the  articles,  accordingly,  and  the 
method  of  treating  them,  are  in  the  highest  degree 
juvenile.  But  the  language  is  mature.  For  it  'is 
language  which  we  wish  to  teach  them,  and  conse- 
quently we  must  keep,  in  language,  a  little  above 
them,  advancing  continually  ourselves,  as  they  ad- 
vance. J.  A. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

How  Rollo  learned  to  Read 9 

The  First  Lessons  in  Looking 22 

Tick,  — Tick,  — Tick  ...    26 

Jonas 31 

A  Little  Letter , 41 

Rollo's  Dream 44 

The  Cold  Morning 59 

How  to  Read  Right 64 

Climbing  up  a  Mountain   77 

Rollo  getting  Ready  for  his  Father 80 

The  Way  to  Obey 84 

Rollo's  Breakfast    88 

Fictitious  Stories   93 

The  Fly's  Morning  Walk 96 

Waking  Up 101 

Rollo's  Prayer 109 

Bunny Ill 

The  Raft 116 

Contrary  Charles 120 

Frost  on  the  Windows 132 

Shooting  a  Bear 135 

Jack  Hildigo 145 

How  to  Treat  a  Kitten 152 

Overboard  166 

Old  Things  and  New  Things 171 

Selling  a  Boy 174 


EOLLO  LEAENING  TO  EEAD. 


HOW  EOLLO  LEAENED  TO  EEAD. 


Should  you  like  to  know  how  Hollo 
learned  to  read  ?  I  will  tell  you.  It  is 
very  hard  work  to  learn  to  read,  and  it 
takes  a  great  while  to  do  it.  I  will  tell 
you  how  Hollo  did  it. 

One  evening  Hollo  was  sitting  on  the 
floor  by  the  side  of  the  fire,  playing  with 
his  blocks.  He  was  trying  to  build  a 
meeting-house.  He  could  make  the  meet- 
ing-house very  well,  all  except  the  steeple, 
but  the  steeple  would  tumble  down. 

Presently  his  father  said, 


10    HOW  HOLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ. 

"  Rollo,  you  may  put  your  blocks  into 
the  basket,  and  put  the  basket  in  its 
place,  in  the  closet,  and  then  come  to 
me." 

Rollo  obeyed. 

Then  Rollo 's  father  took  him  up  into 
his  lap,  and  took  a  little  book  out  of  his 
pocket.  Rollo  was  glad.  He  thought  he 
was  going  to  look  at  some  pictures.  But 
he  was  disappointed. 

He  was  disappointed ;  that  is,  he  found 
there  were  no  pictures  in  the  book,  and 
was  sorry. 

His  father  said, 

"  I  suppose  you  thought  there  were 
pictures  in  this  book." 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  There  are  none,"  said  his  father  ;  "I 
have  not  got  this  book  to  amuse  you.  I 
am  going  to  have  you  learn  to  read  out 
of  it,  and  learning  to  read  is  hard  work." 


HOW  HOLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ.    11 

Rollo  was  very  glad  when  he  heard 
this.  He  wanted  to  learn  to  read,  so  that 
he  could  read  story  books  himself  alone, 
and  he  thought  that  learning  to  read  was 
very  pleasant,  easy  work. 

His  father  knew  that  he  thought  so, 
and  therefore  he  said, 

"  I  suppose  you  are  glad  that  you  are 
going  to  learn  to  read,  but  it  is  harder 
work,  and  will  take  longer  time  than  you 
think.  You  will  get  tired  very  often,  be- 
fore you  have  learned,  and  you  will  want 
to  stop.     But  you  must  not  stop." 

"  What,"  said  Rollo,  "  must  not  I  stop 
once — :at  all  —  all  the  time,  till  I  have 
learned  to  read  ?  " 

"Oh  yes,"  said  his  father;  "  I  do  not 
mean  that  you  must  be  learning  to  read 
all  the  time  ;  —  you  will  only  read  a  little 
while  every  day.  What  I  mean  is  that 
you  must  read  every  day,  when  the  time 


12    HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ. 

comes,  although  you  will  very  often  think 
that  you  are  tired  of  reading  so  much,  and 
had  rather  play.  But  no  matter  if  you 
are  tired  of  it.  It  is  your  duty  to  learn  to 
read,  and  you  must  do  it,  if  it  is  hard." 

"  I  do  not  think  I  shall  be  tired,"  said 
Eollo. 

"  Very  well,  — you  can  see.  Only  re- 
member if  you  should  be  tired,  you  must 
not  say  so,  and  ask  not  to  read." 

Hollo's  father  then  opened  the  book 
and  showed  Rollo  that  it  was  full  of  lei 
ters, — large  letters,  and  small  letters,  and 
a  great  many  little  words  in  columns.  Do 
you  know  what  a  column  is  ?  There  was 
also  some  very  easy  reading  in  large  print, 
but  no  pictures. 

Then  Hollo's  father  explained  the  plan 
by  which  he  was  to  learn  to  read.  His 
sister  Mary  was  to  teach  him.  Mary  was 
to  call  him  to  her  every  morning  at  nine 


HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ.    13 

o'clock,  and  teach  him  his  letters  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  She  was  to  do  the 
same  at  eleven,  and  at  three,  and  at  five. 
The  rest  of  the  time  Rollo  was  to  have 
for  play.  Mary  was  to  take  three  or  four 
of  the  letters  at  a  time,  and  tell  Rollo  the 
names  of  them,  and  make  them  on  the 
slate,  and  let  him  try  to  make  them,  and 
let  him  try  to  find  them  in  books,  until  he 
should  know  them  perfectly.  She  was  to 
keep  an  account  of  every  day,  marking 
the  days  when,  for  any  reasons,  she  did 
not  hear  him,  and  putting  down,  each  day, 
the  letters  he  learned  that  day,  and  as 
soon  as  he  had  learned  all  his  letters  she 
was  to  tell  his  father. 

If  he  should  at  any  time  refuse  to  come 
when  she  called  him,  or  come  sullenly  or 
in  ill  humor,  —  or  if  he  disobeyed  her,  or 
made  her  any  trouble,  wilfully,  she  was  to 
put  the  book  away  at  once,  and  not  teach 
2 


14    HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED -TO  READ. 

him  any  more  that  day,  but  at  night  tell 
his  father. 

When  Hollo's  father  had  thus  explained 
the  whole  plan,  he  said, 

"  Now,  Mary  and  Hollo,  this  is  a  hard 
task  for  both  of  you,  I  know.  I  hope  you 
will  both  be  patient  and  persevering, — and 
be  kind  to  one  another.  Mary,  you  must 
remember  that  Eollo  is  a  small  boy,  and 
cannot  learn  as  fast  as  you  might  expect 
or  wish,  —  you  must  be  kind  to  him  and 
patient.  Be  sure  also  to  be  punctual  and 
regular  in  calling  him  at  the  exact  hour. 
And  Hollo  you  must  be  patient  too,  and 
obedient,  and  you  must  remember  that 
though  it  is  hard  work  to  learn  to  read, 
you  will  be  very  glad  when  you  shall  have 
learned.  You  will  then  enjoy  a  great 
many  happy  hours  in  sitting  down  by  the 
fire  in  your  little  chair,  and  reading  story 
books. 


HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ.     15 

Soon  after  this  Hollo  went  to  bed  think- 
ing a  great  deal  of  his  first  lesson,  which 
he  was  going  to  take  the  next  day. 

Do  you  not  think  now  that  it  would 
have  been  better  if  Rollo's  father  had  tried 
to  make  learning  to  read  more  amusing  to 
his  little  boy  ?  He  might  have  got  a  book 
with  letters  and  pictures  too, —  or  he  might 
have  bought  some  blocks  and  cards  with 
letters  on  them,  and  let  Hollo  learn  by 
playing  with  them.  That  would  have 
been  more  amusing.  Do  you  think  that 
would  have  been  a  better  way  ?  I  think 
it  would  not.  For  if  Rollo  had  begun  to 
learn  to  read,  expecting  to  find  it  play,  he 
would  have  been  disappointed  and  dis- 
couraged a  great  deal  sooner.  He  might 
have  looked  at  the  pictures  in  his  book, 
or  played  with  the  cards  or  the  blocks, 
but  that  would  not  have  taught  him  the 
letters  on  them.     It  was  better  that  he 


16    HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ. 

should  understand  distinctly  at  the  begin- 
ning that  learning  to  read  was  hard  work, 
and  that  he  must  attend  to  it  as  a  duty  ; 
thus  he  would  be  prepared  for  it  as  it 
was,  and  find  it  more  and  more  pleasant 
as  he  went  along.  But  if  he  had  expect- 
ed that  it  would  be  play,  he  would  only 
have  been  disappointed,  and  that  would 
have  made  it  harder,  and  made  it  take  a 
great  deal  longer  time. 

Rollo  liked  reading  very  well  for  a  day 
or  two,  but  he  soon  became  tired.  He 
thought  the  quarter  of  an  hour  was  very 
long,  and  that  Mary  always  called  him  too 
soon.  He  was  mistaken  however  in  this, 
for  Mary  was  always  very  exact  and 
punctual.  He  found  too  that  he  got  along 
very  slowly.  It  was  a  good  many  days 
before  he  could  say  the  first  few  letters, 
and  he  thought  it  would  take  a  great  while 
before  he  should  have  learned  them  all. 


HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ.    17 

One  pleasant  morning,  when  he  was  dig- 
ging with  his  little  hoe.  in  the  yard,  Mary 
called  him,  and  for  a  minute  or  two  he  had 
a  great  mind  not  to  come.  But  then  he 
recollected  that  if  he  did  not,  she  would 
immediately  put  the  book  away  and  tell 
his  father  at  night,  so  he  threw  down  the 
hoe  and  ran.  But  it  was  very  hard  for 
him  to  do  it. 

In  a  few  days  one  thing  surprised  both 
Mary  and  Hollo.  It  was  that  he  learned 
the  second  four  or  five  letters  a  great  deal 
sooner  than  he  did  the  first.  They  did 
not  understand  the  reason  of  this.  The 
third  lesson  was  learned  sooner  still,  and 
so  on,  the  farther  they  went  down  the 
alphabet  the  faster  Bollo  learned. 

One  evening  when  Rollo  had  learned 

about  half  his  letters,  his  father  took  him 

up  in  his  lap,  and  took  a  small  round  box 

out  of  his  pocket,  with  a  pretty  picture  on 

2* 


18    HOW  EOLLO  LEARNED  TO  EEAD. 

the  top.  Besides  the  picture  there  were 
three  letters  ;  they  were  these,  A,  B,  G. 
Rollo  looked  a  moment  at  the  picture,  but 
he  was  more  pleased  with  the  letters  than 
the  picture.  He  was  very  much  pleased 
to  see  those  letters,  —  the  very  letters 
which  he  had  learned,  on  the  top  of  such 
a  pretty  box. 

"  Oh  there  is  A,"  said  he,  "  and  B,  and 
C,  on  the  top  of  this  pretty  box.  How 
funny  !  " 

Then  his  father  opened  the  box  and 
poured  out  a  great  many  beautiful  round 
cards  into  Hollo's  lap.  There  were  beau- 
tiful, painted  pictures  on  one  side  and 
letters  on  the  other.  Rollo  was  most 
interested  in  looking  at  the  letters. 

"  Oh,  father,"  said  he,  "  what  beautiful 
cards  !  AVhy  did  you  not  buy  them  at 
first,  and  let  me  learn  my  letters  with 
them  ?  ' ' 


HOW  HOLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ.     19 

"Because,"  said  his  father,  "if  I  had 
bought  them  at  first,  when  you  did  not 
know  any  of  your  letters,  you  would  have 
not  been  pleased  with  any  thing  but  the 
pictures,  and  rolling  the  cards  about  the 
floor.  Or  if  I  had  given  them  to  Mary  to 
teach  you  your  letters  from  them,  then 
you  would  not  have  liked  them  any  better 
than  your  book.  But  by  letting  you  learn 
for  a  time  from  your  book,  till  you  know 
a  good  many  letters,  you  can  understand 
the  cards,  and  you  notice  the  letters  on 
them  ;  and  when  you  play  with  them  you 
will  remember  a  great  many  letters  on 
them,  and  thus  you  will  become  more 
familiar  with  them." 

"With  what?"  said  Rollo. 

;i  With  the  letters,"  said  his  father. 

' '  What  is  familiar  toith  them  f  ' '  asked 
Rollo. 

"  Why  you  will  know  them  better,  and 


20    HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ. 

remember  them  longer,  —  and  you  will 
know  them  quicker  when  you  see  them 
again  in  books.  That  is  being  familiar 
with  them.  Do  you  not  think  you  will 
like  this  box  of  cards  a  great  deal  better 
now,  to  play  with,  than  before  you  knew 
any  letters  ?  ' ' 

"Yes,  sir,  I  was  very  glad  to  see  the 
A  B  C  on  it." 

After  this  Hollo  played  a  great  deal 
with  his  cards,  and  though  he  did  not  learn 
any  new  letters  from  them,  they  helped 
him  to  become  familiar  with  the  letters 
as  fast  as  he  learned  them  from  his  book. 

The  last  part  of  the  alphabet  Hollo 
learned  very  fast,  and  at  length  one  even- 
ing Mary  and  Hollo  came  together  to  their 
father,  telling  him  with  smiling  faces  that 
he  had  learned  them  all. 

Then  Hollo's  father  gave  him  a  long 
lesson  in  reading  little  words  —  he  gave 


HOW  ROLLO  LEARNED  TO  READ.     21 

him  a  great  many  columns,  so  many,  that 
it  would  take  a  good  many  weeks  to  read 
them  all.  Mary  was  to  hear  him  four 
times  every  day.  Then  he  read  the  easy 
sentences  over  in  the  end  of  his  book,  and 
a  good  many  others  in  another  book,  until 
at  last  he  could  read  very  well  alone.  It 
took  a  long  time,  however,  to  do  all  this 
reading-.  When  he  finished  learning  to 
read  he  was  more  than  a  year  older  than 
he  was  when  he  began.  The  stories  in 
this  book  are  for  him  to  read,  so  that  he 
may  learn  to  read  better.  You  can  read 
them  too.  Farther  on  in  this  book  I  shall 
tell  you  more  about  Rollo. 

In  reading  these  stories  Rollo  found  a 
great  many  words  which  he  could  not 
understand.  He  always  asked  some  one 
what  these  words  meant,  for  he  wanted 
to  understand  what  he  read  perfectly. 
His  father  advised  him  to  read  his  story 


SA  FIRST   LESSONS    IN    LOOKING. 

book  aloud  too,  unless  when  it  would  dis- 
turb some  one,  because  by  reading  aloud 
he  would  learn  faster. 


THE  FIKST  LESSONS  IN  LOOKING. 

When  the  baby  was  very  little  indeed, 
and  first  began  to  open  his  eyes,  his 
mother  saw  that  the  bright  light  of  the 
windows  dazzled  them,  and  gave  him 
pain ;  so  she  shut  the  blinds  and  put 
down  the  curtains. 

When  the  baby  was  so  very  little,  he 
did  not  know  how  to  look  about  at  the 
things  which  were  around  him.  He  had 
not  learned  to  move  his  eyes  steadily  from 
one  thing  to  another.  He  could  not  take 
hold  of  any  thing,  either,  with  his  hands. 


FIftST    LESSONS    IN    LOOKING.  23 

He  did  not  know  that  his  hands  were 
made  to  take  hold  of  things  with.  His 
mother  held  a  handsome  ivory  ring  before 
him,  and  endeavored  to  make  him  see  it 
and  take  it.  She  put  it  in  his  hand,  but 
he  did  not  know  how  to  hold  it,  and  it 
dropped  upon  the  floor. 

The  baby  was  very  weak  too.  He 
could  not  walk  nor  sit  up,  nor  even  hold 
up  his  head.  Unless  his  mother  held  his 
head  for  him,  it  would  drop  down  and 
hang  upon  his  shoulder.  Once  she  laid 
him  down  upon  the  bed,  and  she  went 
away  a  minute  or  two.  While  she  was 
gone  he  rolled  over  on  his  face,  and  was 
so  weak  that  he  could  not  get  back  again. 
I  do  not  think  he  knew  how  to  try.  His 
mother  came  back  and  lifted  him  up,  or 
perhaps  he  would  have  been  stifled. 

One  day  his  mother  said,  "Oh,  how 
many  things  I  have  got  to  teach  my  little 


24  FIRST    LESSONS    IN    LOOKING. 

child.  I  must  teach  him  to  look,  and  to 
hold  up  his  head,  and  to  take  things  in 
his  hands,  and  I  must  do  all  these  things 
while  he  is  quite  a  little  baby." 

She  thought  she  would  first  teach  him 
to  look.  So  she  let  in  a  little  light,  and 
when  he  was  quiet  and  still,  she  held  him 
so  that  he  could  see  it.  But  he  did  not 
seem  to  notice  it,  and  pretty  soon  he  went 
to  sleep. 

The  next  day  she  tried  it  again  ;  and 
again  on  the  following  day  ;  and  soon  she 
found  that  he  would  look  very  steadily  at 
the  white  curtain,  or  at  the  place  where 
the  sun  shone  upon  the  wall.  She  did 
not  yet  try  to  make  him  look  at  little 
things,  for  she  knew  she  could  not  hope 
to  make  him  see  little  thing's  till  he  had 

o 

learned  to  notice  something  large  and 
bright. 

When  Samuel  was    lying  in  his  mo- 


FIRST    LESSONS    IN    LOOKING.  25 

th^r's  lap,  looking  steadily  at  something ; 
.she  was  always  careful  not  to  move  him, 
or  to  make  any  noise,  or  to  do  anything 
which  would  distract  his  attention.  She 
knew  that  children  were  always  puzzled 
with  having  two  things  to  think  of  at  a 
time,  and  she  was  afraid  that  if  while  he 
was  thinking  of  the  light  and  trying  to 
look  at  it,  he  should  hear  voices  around 
him,  he  would  stop  thinking  of  the  light, 
and  begin  to  wonder  what  that  noise 
could  be. 

In  about  a  week,  Samuel  had  learned 
his  lesson  very  well.  He  could  look 
pretty  steadily  at  a  large  bright  spot 
when  it  was  still.  Then  his  mother 
thought  she  would  try  to  teach  him  to 
look  at  something  smaller.  She  there- 
fore asked  his  father  to  buy  her  a  large 
bright  orange,  and  one  day  when  he  was 
lying  quietly  in  her  lap,  she  held  it  up  be- 
3 


26  TICK,  —  TICK,  —  TICK. 

fore  him.  But  he  would  not  notice  it ; 
he  seemed  to  be  looking  at  the  window 
beyond. 

.  Then  his  mother  turned  her  chair  gently 
round,  and  sat  with  her  back  towards 
the  window  so  that  he  could  not  see  the 
window,  and  then  he  looked  at  the  orange. 
Presently  she  moved  the  orange  slowly,  — 
very  slowly,  —  backwards  and  forwards, 
to  teach  him  to  follow  it  with  his  eyes. 
Thus  the  baby  took  his  first  lessons  in 
looking. 


TICK,  — TICK,  — TICK. 

One  morning  I  was  going  to  take  a 
journey.  I  was  going  in  the  stage.  I 
expected  that  the  sleigh  bells  would  come 
jingling  up  to  the  door  for  me  at  seven 


TICK,  —  TICK,  —  TICK.  27 

o'clock.  So  I  thought  that  if  I  wished  to 
be  ready,  I  must  get  up  at  six. 

I  went  into  my  little  room  where  I  was 
to  sleep.  There  was  a  clock  on  the  wall, 
by  the  side  of  my  bed.-  It  said  tick,  — 
tick, —  tick.  ' '  I  am  glad, ' '  said  I  to  myself, 
"  for  now  I  can  see  what  o'clock  it  is."  So 
I  put  my  lamp  down  on  the  floor,  and  put 
my  spectacles  behind  my  pillow,  and  then 
laid  down  and  went  to  sleep. 

By  and  by  I  woke  and  thought  I  heard 
a  little  noise.  I  listened.  It  was  the 
clock,  saying  tick,  — tick, — tick  ;  and  I  said 
to  myself,  "I  wonder  what  o'clock  it  is?  " 
So  I  sat  up,  and  took  my  spectacles  from 
behind  my  pillow,  and  put  them  on  my 
nose,  and  looked  up  at  the  clock.  The 
lamp  which  was  on  the  floor  shone  upon 
the  clock  so  that  I  could  see,  and  I  saw 
that  it  was  only  three  o'clock,  and  I  said, 
"  Oh,  it  is  only  three  o'clock.    It  is  not  time 


28  TICK,  —  TICK,  —  TICK. 

for  me  to  get  up  yet."  So  I  took  my 
spectacles  off  of  my  nose,  and  put  them 
behind  my  pillow,  and  laid  me  down  again. 
The  clock  kept  saying,  tick, —  tick, —  tick. 

Pretty  soon  I  went  to  sleep,  and  I  slept 
an  hour.  Then  I  awoke  and  said  to  my- 
self, "  I  wonder  what  o'clock  it  is  ?  "  So  I 
sat  up,  and  took  my  spectacles  from  be- 
hind my  pillow,  and  put  them  on  my 
nose,  and  looked  up  at  the  clock.  The 
lamp  which  was  upon  the  floor  shone 
upon  the  clock,  so  that  I  could  see,  and  I 
saw  that  it  was  only  four  o'clock,  and  I 
said,  "Oh,  it  is  only  four  o'clock;  it  is 
not  time  for  me  to  get  up  yet."  So  I 
took  my  spectacles  off  of  my  nose,  and 
put  them  behind  my  pillow,  and  laid  me 
down  again.  The  clock  kept  saying  all 
the  while,  tick,  —  tick, — tick. 

Pretty  soon,  I  went  to  sleep,  and  slept 
some  time.     Then  I  woke,  and  said  to 


TICK,  —  TICK,  —  TICK.  29 

myself,  "I  wonder  what  o'clock  it  is?" 
So  I  sat  up,  and  took  my  spectacles  from 
behind  my  pillow,  and  put  them  on  my 
nose,  and  looked  up  at  the  clock.  The 
lamp  which  was  upon  the  floor  shone 
upon  the  clock,  so  that  I  could  see,  and  1 
saw  that  it  was  only  Jive  o'clock,  and  I 
said,  "  Oh,  it  is  only  five  o'clock.  It  is  not 
time  for  me  to  get  up  yet."  So  I  took 
my  spectacles  off  of  my  nose,  and  put 
them  behind  my  pillow,  and  laid  me  down 
again.  The  clock  kept  saying  all  the 
while,  tick, — tick, — tick. 

Pretty  soon  I  went  to  sleep,  and  slept 
some  time.  When  I  woke,  I  said  to  my- 
self, "  I  wonder  what  o'clock  it  is  ?  "  So 
I  sat  up,  and  took  my  spectacles  from  be- 
hind my  pillow,  and  put  them  on  my 
nose,  and  looked  up  at  the  clock.  The 
lamp  which  was  upon  the  floor  shone 
upon  the  clock,  so  that  I  could  see,  and  I 
3* 


30  TICK,  —  TICK,  —  TICK. 

saw  that  it  was  six  o'clock.  Then  I  said 
now  it  is  time  for  me  to  get  up.  So  I 
jumped  up  and  dressed  me,  and  looked 
out  of  the  window,  and  there  was  a  beauti- 
ful, bright  star  shining  in  the  sky.  The 
star  was  up  before  me. 

When  I  was  ready  I  opened  the  door 
to  go  out ;  but  the  clock  still  kept  saying 
tick, — tick, — tick.  I  wondered  what  made 
the  clock  keep  going  so  all  the  night  and 
all  the  day,  and  I  went  back  and  opened 
the  door  to  see.  And  what  do  you  think 
I  found?  Why,  I  found  a  great  heavy 
weight  hung  to  a  string,  and  the  string 
was  fastened  to  some  of  the  little  wheels 
up  in  the  clock.  The  weight  kept  pulling 
down  and  pulling  down  all  the  time,  slow- 
ly, and  it  pulled  the  string  down  slowly, 
and  the  string  made  the  wheels  go  round, 
and  the  wheels  made  the  hands  go,  and 
some  of  the  little  wheels  made  that  noise 
I  heard,  —  tick,  —  tick,  —  tick. 


JONAS.  31 

What  do  you  think  happens  when  the 
weights  which  make  the  clock  go  get 
down,  down,  to  the  very  bottom  of  the 
clock  ?  Why,  then  they  have  to  wind 
thern  up  to  the  top  again,  and  they  begin 
anew. 


JONAS. 

One  fine  summer  evening  a  gentleman 
came  riding  down  a  hill  in  a  country  cov- 
ered with  pleasant  farm  houses,  green 
fields,  and  little  groups  of  trees.  He  had 
a  small  boy  in  the  wagon  with  him. 

There  was  a  brook  at  the  bottom  of 
the  hill.  A  bridge  was  built  over  the 
brook,  and  the  road  passed  over  the 
bridge.  The  horse  and  waggon,  with  the 
gentleman  and  his  boy  in  it,  went  swiftly 
over  the  bridge  and  up  the  hill ;   but  just 


32  JONAS. 

as  they  began  to  ascend,  one  of  the  traces 
broke. 

One  of  the  traces  f  What  is  a  trace  ? 
Do  you  know  my  boy  ?  The  traces  are 
those  long,  stout  straps  of  leather  which 
pass  along  the  sides  of  the  horse,  and  are 
fastened  to  the  waggon.  The  horse  draws 
a  waggon,  or  a  chaise,  by  means  of  the 
traces.  Therefore  they  are  always  made 
very  strong.  You  can  see  a  picture  of 
some  traces  in  "  Hollo  learning  to  Talk," 
a  book  about  as  large  as  this,  at  the  story  of 
a  Goat  for  a  Horse.  The  next  time  you 
take  a  ride,  I  advise  you  to  look  at  the 
traces  on  the  horse,  and  see  how  strong 
they  are.  See  too  how  they  are  fastened 
to  the  horse,  and  how  they  are  fastened 
to  the  chaise. 

If  one  of  the  traces  should  give  way, 
that  is,  should  break,  in  going  up  a  hill, 
what  do  you  think  would  be  the  conse- 


JONAS.  33 

quence?  Why,  the  waggon  would  go 
back,  partly  held  by  the  other  trace.  That 
was  the  way  with  this  waggon ;  it  went 
back,  the  horse  was  frightened,  the  gen- 
tleman jumped  out,  the  boy  called  out, 
"  whoa,  — whoa,  —  whoa." 

It  did  not  do  any  good.  Boys  had  bet- 
ter be  still  when  there  is  any  difficulty. 

The  waggon  backed  until,  just  as  it 
was  going  off  the  bank,  a  boy  ran  up  and 
put  a  stone  behind  the  wheel.  That 
stopped  it. 

This  was  not  the  boy  who  was  in  the 
waggon.  It  was  another  boy.  The  gen- 
tleman had  not  seen  him  before.  He  had 
on  light  colored  clothes,  a  patched  jacket, 
and  an  old  straw  hat ;  one  side  of  the  brim 
was  almost  worn  out  with  catching  butter- 
flies ;  the  knees  of  his  trousers  were 
stained  with  the  grass.  The  gentleman 
looked  at  him  a  minute,  and  said  "  ihank 


34  JONAS. 

you,  my  boy."  Then  he  began  to  look  at 
the  harness.  When  the  gentleman  had 
examined  the  traces,  he  found  that  the 
leather  was  not  broken  ;  it  was  only  the 
tongue  of  a  buckle  by  which  the  trace 
was  fastened  that  was  gone  ;  for  the  har- 
ness was  new,  and  the  waggon  was  a 
handsome  one. 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  piece  of  twine  to  fast- 
en it  with,  till  we  get  home,"  said  he  to 
his  son,  as  he  felt  in  his  pockets.  He 
then  looked  around  to  see  where  the  little 
fellow  was  who  had  trigged  the  wheel. 
Do  you  know  what  I  mean  by  trigging 
the  wheel  ?  The  boy  was  sitting  on  the 
trunk  of  a  tree,  by  the  side  of  the  road, 
and  as  the  gentleman  turned  around  to  see 
him,  he  was  just  pulling  out  a  long  piece 
of  twine  from  his  pocket. 

"  Here  is  a  string,  sir,"  said  he  ;  and  he 
got  up  and  came  to  the  gentleman.     He 


JONAS.  35 

seemed  tired  however,  for  he  went  back 
and  sat  down  again  immediately. 

"I  thank  you,"  said  he,  "but  I  am 
afraid  it  is  not  strong  enough." 

"  You  can  double  and  twist  it,"  said 
the  boy. 

They  twisted  the  string,  and  then 
doubled  it  and  twisted  it  again,  and  so 
tied  the  harness.  The  gentleman  and 
his  son  then  got  into  the  waggon  again, 
and  were  going  to  ride  up  the  hill.  The 
gentleman  hesitated  a  moment  whether 
he  ought  to  offer  to  pay  the  boy  for  his 
string  or  not.  Do  you  think  he  ought 
to? 

"  I  would  pay  him,"  whispered  his  lit- 
tle son  ;   "he  looks  like  a  poor  boy." 

"  Yes,"  replied  his  father,  "  but  perhaps 
lie  would  make  a  bad  use  of  the  money. 
Perhaps  his  father  and  mother  would  not 
like  to  have  him  have  any  money." 

"  Why  cannot  you  ask  him  ?  " 


36  JONAS. 

The  gentleman  then  turned  to  the  boy 
who  was  still  sitting  on  the  log,  and  said, 

"  What  is  your  name,  my  little  fellow  ?  " 

"  Jonas." 

"  Where  do  you  live  ?  " 

"Sir?" 

"  Where  do  you  live  ?  " 

The  boy  hesitated  a  moment  as  if  he 
did  not  understand  him.     Then  he  said, 

"  I  don't  know  sir.  —  I  don't  live  any 
where." 

The  little  boy  in  the  waggon  laughed. 

"Don't  know  where  you  live?"  said 
the  gentleman.  "  Well,  what  are  you  do- 
ing out  here  ?  ' ' 

"  I  have  been  catching  butterflies." 

' '  Where  did  you  come  from  ?  ' ' 

"  I  don't  know  sir.  —  I  came  from  the 
city." 

"The  city!     What  city?" 

"I  don't  know  sir,— the  city  back  there. 
I  don't  know  what  the  name  of  it  is." 


JONAS   SITTING   ON   A   LOG. -Page  86. 


JONAS.  39 

"  Do  you  live  in  the  city  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,  I  am  not  going  to  live  there 
any  more  ?  ' ' 

"Do  your  father  and  mother  live 
there  ?  ' ' 

"  My  father  is  dead ;  and  I  have  not 
got  any  mother." 

"  What  has  become  of  your  mother?  " 

"I  never  had  any,  sir.-' 

The  gentleman  smiled  a  moment  when 
he  heard  this  answer,  and  then  he  looked 
serious  and  concerned  and  paused  a  mo- 
ment. He  seemed  not  to  know  what  to 
do. 

"  But,  Jonas,"  said  he  again,  "  you  say 
you  do  not  live  any  where ;  where  do 
you  get  your  food  and  sleep?  " 

"Sir!" 

' '  Where  do  you  sleep  at  night  ?  ' ' 

"I  slept  in  Mr.  Williams'  shed  last 
night." 


40  JONAS. 

' '  And  where  do  you  expect  to  sleep  to- 
night ? ' ' 

"  I  don't  know,  sir." 
.  "  Where    did  you   get  your  breakfast 
this  morning?  " 

"A  man  gave  me  some." 

"And  where  did  you  get  your  din- 
ner? " 

"  I  have  not  had  any  dinner,  sir." 

' '  No  dinner  !  —  I  should  think  you 
would  be  too  tired  and  hungry  to  chase 
butterflies,  without  any  dinner." 

"  I  was  too  tired,  and  so  I  stopped." 

The  gentleman,  after  talking  with  the 
boy  a  little  longer,  concluded  to  take  him 
into  his  waggon,  and  carry  him  home. 

' '  Jump  up  behind  into  my  waggon. 
Jonas,"  said  he,  "and  I  will  give  you 
some  supper." 

So  Jonas  jumped  up  behind  and  rode 
home  with  them.     You  will  hear  more 


A   LITTLE    LETTER.  41 

about  him  hereafter,  for  who  do  you  think 
this  gentleman  was  ?  Why  it  was  Hollo's 
father,  and  the  boy  who  was  riding  with 
him  was  Rollo  himself.  Jonas  lived  with 
Rollo  a  long  time,  and  became  a  very  in- 
dustrious, useful  boy.  He  used  to  take 
care  of  Rollo,  and  play  with  him. 


A  LITTLE  LETTER 

This  is  a  letter  written  to  a  little  boy 
about  as  large  as  you.     James  is  the  name 
of  the  boy.     James'  uncle  wrote  it. 
The  letter. 
"  Dear  James, 

Do  you  want  me  to  write  you  a 
little  letter  about  a  robin  ?  I  think  you 
do.  Well ;  I  will  write  it.  Now  I  will 
begin.  A  robin  is  a  bird.  A  robin  has 
two  wings  and  two  legs ;  he  flies  in  the 
4* 


42  A    LITTLE    LETTER. 

air;  it  is  his  wings  make  him  go.  When 
he  comes  down  to  the  ground,  he  hops 
along  on  his  two  legs.  When  he  sees 
a  worm  he  picks  it  up  with  his  bill.  Do 
you  know  what  his  bill  is  ?  It  is  a 
mouth.  Then  he  picks  it  up  just  as  the 
hen  does,  and  eats  it.  Now  for  the  story. 
Near  the  house  where  I  live,  there  is  a 
field  ;  and  in  the  field  there  is  a  tree.  I 
was  walking  in  the  field,  and  went  near 
the  tree ;  as  I  went  near  it,  a  bird  darted 
out  of  the  tree,  and  sung  out  very  loud ; 
it  made  me  start.  When  I  saw  it  was  a 
bird,  I  looked  among  the  leaves  and 
branches  of  the  tree,  and  found  there  a 
pretty  robin's  nest,  and  three  eggs.  Only 
think,  a  beautiful  nest,  with  three  eggs.  I 
looked  at  them  for  a  minute,  and  then 
went  away  and  left  them  there.  The 
next  day,  I  walked  down  to  the  tree 
again,  to  see  the  nest  and  the  pretty  eggs. 


A   LITTLE    LETTER.  43 

I  pulled  away  the  leaves,  but  the  nest  was 
not  there.  I  stooped  down  on  the  ground, 
looked  into  the  grass,  and  there  I  saw  the 
robin.  The  poor  robin  was  dead,  the  nest 
was  torn  in  pieces,  and  the  eggs  were 
broken'.  I  would  send  you  one  of  the 
eggs,  but  it  is  broken  so  much,  that  I 
think  it  will  not  do.  When  the  little  robin 
was  alive,  he  sung  pleasantly,  he  made 
him  a  nest,  and  handsome  eggs  ;  but  now 
the  robin  is  dead,  the  nest  is  torn  in 
pieces,  and  the  eggs  are  broken.  Poor 
robin ;  poor  robin. 

I  have  written  this  story  of  the  robin 
for  little  James.  I  am  very  sorry  that 
any  boy  should  kill  the  poor  robin  and 
spoil  its  nest. 

This  is  from  your  affectionate, 

Uncle." 


44 


EOLLO'S   DEEAM. 

One  day  Rollo's  mother  wanted  him 
to  do  some  errands  for  her.  He  went  on 
one,  reluctantly,  but  when  she  gave  him 
another  he  murmured  aloud.  "  Oh,"  said 
he,  "I  wish  I  did  not  have  so  many  er- 
rands to  do.     What  a  hard  life  I  lead  !  " 

This  gave  his  mother  pain,  and  he  saw 
it.  When  he  got  back  from  this  errand 
she  told  him  there  was  nothing  more  for 
him  to  do.  Rollo  went  and  stood  at  the 
door  a  few  minutes  to  see  if  there  were 
any  boys  out  there.  But  there  were  none, 
so  he  took  a  story-book  in  his  hand  and 
went  down  into  the  garden,  and  took  his 
seat  in  the  little  arbor  which  his  father  had 
made  for  him,  and  began  to  read. 

The  arbor  reminded  him  of  his  parents' 
kindness,  and  this  made  him  feel  unhappy 


EOLLO  ASLEEP   DJ   THE  ABIiOIL-Page  4' 


hollo's  dream.  47 

to  think  of  his  unwillingness  to  help  his 
mother.  These  thoughts  troubled  him, 
and  so  he  could  not  attend  to  his  book. 
Presently  he  got  lost  in  a  reverie,  —  his 
book  dropped  over  upon  his  lap.  His 
head  gradually  sunk  down,  —  and  here 
you  see  Hollo  fast  asleep. 

While  he  slept  he  dreamed.  Hollo 
dreamed  that  he  lived  in  a  small  house,  a 
great  many  miles  away,  and  that  his  mo- 
ther was  there  alone  with  him.  She  asked 
him  one  day  to  go  and  get  a  pail  of  water. 
"  Oh,"  said  he,  "  I  wish  I  did  not  have  so 
much  water  to  bring,  —  what  a  hard  life  I 
lead  !  " 

He  dreamed  that  just  then  he  saw  a  cat 
lying  down  in  the  sun  by  the  door.  She 
eeemed  to  have  nothing  to  do.  "  Oh," 
thought  Hollo,  "  how  I  wish  I  were  a  cat. 
It  would  be  such  define  thing  to  be  a  cat." 

No  sooner  had  he  said  this  than  he  felt 


48  EOLLO'S    DREAM. 

some  how  or  other  a  strong  desire  to  get 
down  on  his  hands  and  knees,  —  he  found 
himself  growing  smaller  and  smaller,  — 
his  fingers  became  sharp  claws,  and  in 
short  Eollo  dreamed  that  he  was  turning 
into  a  cat. 

He  walked  about,  a  minute  or  two, 
stretched  himself,  mewed  and  purred  to 
ascertain  that  he  was  really  a  cat,  and  then 
laid  down  again  in  the  sun  to  go  to  sleep. 
As  he  shut  his  eyes  he  said  to  himself, 
purring,  "  How  glad  I  am  that  I  have  no 
more  water  to  bring  !  What  a  fine  thing 
it  is  to  be  a  cat ! ' ' 

Pretty  soon  he  waked  up  and  was 
hungry.  His  first  thought  was  to  go  to 
his  mother  as  usual,  for  some  bread  and 
butter.  He  went  in  and  looked  piteously 
up  into  his  mother's  face  and  mewed. 
She  did  not  mind  him.  He  mewed  loud- 
er.    She   paid   no   attention.      Then   he 


ROLLO'S   DREAM.  49 

went  to  making  a  louder  noise,  as  cats  can, 
when  necessary.  His  mother  went  and 
opened  the  door,  and  took  the  brush  and 
drove  him  out,  saying  as  he  went,  "  scat.1' 

Rollo  then  thought  he  must  go  and 
catch  some  mice  or  starve.  So  he  went 
down  cellar,  and  posted  himself  before  a 
little  hole  in  the  wall.  He  waited  here 
an  hour,  and  at  length  a  little  mouse 
peeped  out.  Rollo  darted  his  paw  out  at 
him,  but  he  missed  him,  and  the  mouse 
drew  back  into  his  hole  where  he  was 
safe.  Rollo  waited  many  hours  longer, 
but  no  mouse  came.  "This  is  worse 
than  bringing  water,"  thought  he.  "I 
wish  I  could  get  something  to  eat.  What 
a  hard  life  I  lead  !  " 

Just  then  he  heard,  that  is,  he  dreamed 

he  heard,  a  loud  noise,  moo-o-o,  in  the 

yard.     He  scampered  up,  hungry  as  he 

was,  to  see  what  was  the  matter.     It  was 

5 


50  hollo's  dream. 

the  cow  lowing  to  be  milked.  She  looked 
full  and  large,  as  if  she  had  had  as  much 
as  she  could  eat. 

"  In  the  green  fields  all  day,"  thought 
hungry  Rollo,  "with  nothing  to  do  but 
eat  and  drink  and  then  lie  down  under 
the  trees.     Oh,  how  I  wish  I  were  a  cow  !  " 

He  had  no  sooner  said  these  words 
than  he  found  himself  growing' very  large. 
He  felt  something  coming  out  of  his  fore- 
head, —  he  put  his  paw  up,  though  with 
difficulty,  for  his  paw  was  growing  into  a 
large,  stiff  leg,  and  he  found  that  horns 
were  coming.  By  the  time  his  leg  was 
down  again,  it  was  changed  entirely,  and 
had  a  hoof  at  the  end.  He  was  becoming 
a  cow.  He  lashed  his  sides  with  his  tail, 
and  walked  about  eating  the  grass  in  the 
yard,  till  he  had  satisfied  his  hunger,  and 
then  he  said  to  himself,  "  How  much 
better  this  is  than  watching  for  mice  all 


hollo's  dream.  51 

day  in  a  dark  cellar.  Oh,  it  is  a  fine  thing 
to  be  a  cow." 

After  milking,  they  led  Hollo  into  the 
barn,  put  a  halter  round  his  neck,  and  tied 
him  in  a  dark,  unpleasant  stall.  "  Have 
I  got  to  stay  tied'  up  here  till  morning  ?  ' ' 
thought  Hollo.     It  was  even  so. 

The  next  morning  they  drove  him  off 
to  pasture.  The  boy  beat  him  with  a 
stick  on  the  way,  but  he  was  so  great  and 
clumsy  that  he  could  neither  escape  nor 
defend  himself.  In  the  field,  the  flies  bit 
and  stung  him,  and  though  he  could  brush 
off  some  of  them  with  his  tail,  yet  the 
largest  and  worst  of  them  always  seemed 
to  get  upon  places  he  could  not  reach. 
At  night  when  he  was  coming  home,  some 
boys  set  a  dog  upon  him  and  worried 
him  till  he  was  weary  of  his  life.  "  Ah," 
said  he,  "it  is  a  terrible  thing  to  be  a 
cow,  —  what  a  hard  life  I  lead  !•" 


52  EOLLO'S   DREAM. 

Just  then  the  dog  became  tired  of 
barking  at  him,  and  trotted  away.  "  Oh," 
said  Rollo,  "  if  I  was  only  a  dog.  A  dog 
can  defend  himself.  Then  a  dog  has 
plenty  to  eat  and  nothing  to  do.  What  a 
fine  thing  it  would  be  to  be  a  dog  ! "  No 
sooner  said  than  done.  Rollo  began  to 
grow  slender  and  small,  his  horns  dropped 
off,  —  his  hoofs  turned  back  into  claws 
again,  his  back  became  sleek  and  shining, 
and  he  found  himself  a  beautiful,  black 
dog,  with  hanging  ears  and  a  curled  tail, 
and  an  elegant  brass  collar  about  his  neck. 

Rollo  ran  about  the  streets  •  very  hap- 
pily for  half  an  hour,  and  then  went  home. 
The  dream  seemed  to  change  its  scene 
here,  and  Rollo  found  himself  in  a  beauti- 
ful yard  belonging  to  the  house  where  his 
master  lived.  He  went  home  hungry, 
and  they  gave  him  a  bone  to  eat. 
"  What,"  said  Rollo  to  himself,  "  nothing 


R0LL0  S    DREAM.  5o 

but  a  bone  !  "  He  gnawed  it  for  awhile, 
thinking,  however,  that  it  was  rather  hard 
fare,  and  then  began  to  think  of  going  to 
bed.  There  was  no  bed  for  him,  how- 
ever ;  for  his  master  came  and  took  hold 
of  his  collar,  and  led  him  along;  towards  a 
post  in  the  yard,  where  he  chained  him, 
and  throwing  his  bone  down  by  his  side, 
left  him  to  watch  for  the  thieves. 

Rollo  had  a  bad  night.  Tis  true  no 
thieves  came,  but  he  was  all  the  time 
afraid  they  would  come,  and  at  every  lit- 
tle noise  he  woke  up  and  growled.  Thus 
disturbed,  and  chilled  by  the  cool  air  of 
the  night,  he  passed  his  hours  restlessly 
and  miserably.  "  Ah  !  "  said  he,  "dogs 
do  not  have  so  pleasant  a  life  as  I  sup- 
posed. What  a  hard  way  this  is  to  get  a 
living ! 

At  this  moment  he  heard  a  great  many 
persons  coming  along  ;  he  started  up  and 
5* 


54  EOLLO'S   DREAM. 

barked,  for  it  was  very  early,  though  be- 
ginning to  be  light.  A  number  of  men 
were  leading  a  huge  animal  along.  It 
was  an  elephant.  They  were  taking  him 
into  town  for  a  show,  and  they  came  in 
early,  so  that  nobody  should  see  him  with- 
out paying. 

"That's  the  life  for  me,"  said  Rollo. 
' '  What  a  gentleman  of  an  animal  the  ele- 
phant is ;  he  has  a  dozen  men  to  wait 
upon  him.  Ha !  Old  Longnose,  what  a 
happy  fellow  you  must  be.  Oh,  if  I  was 
only  an  elephant ! ' ' 

As  soon  as  he  had  said  this,  he  could 
feel  his  nose  lengthening  into  a  slender 
trunk,  —  his  body  swelled  out  to  a  great 
size,  —  his  feet  grew  large,  and  his  black, 
shining  skin  turned  into  a  coarse,  rough, 
grey  hide,  —  and  he  found  himself  walk- 
ing along  the  road,  with  a  man  on  his  head. 

He  arrived  at  the  great  stable  where  he 


EOLLO'S    DREAM.  55 

was  to  be  exhibited,  thinking  that  it  was 
an  admirable  thing  to  be  an  elephant. 
They  gave  him  something  to  eat,  and  soon 
the  men  and  boys  came  in  to  see  him. 
For  half  an  hour  he  had  a  fine  time,  walk- 
ing around,  carrying  boys  about  on  his 
tusks,  —  taking  his  keeper's  head  into  his 
mouth,  —  picking  up  nuts  and  pieces  of 
gingerbread  with  the  finger  and  thumb  at 
the  end  of  his  proboscis,  —  laying  down 
and  rising  again  at  the  keeper's  command. 
Pretty  soon,  however,  he  got  tired,  and 
when  the  keeper  ordered  him  to  lay 
down,  he  concluded  that  he  would  not  get 
up  again.  But  the  keeper  taught  him  by 
blows  that  he  was  not  his  own  master,  if 
he  was  a  gentleman.  New  troops  of 
starers  kept  coming  in,  and  Hollo  got  tired 
out  completely  with  going  over  and  over 
again  the  same  evolutions.  He  could 
hardly  stand  at  last,  and  when  they  left 


56  ROLLO's    DREAM. 

him  for  the  night,  and  he  lay  down  to  try 
to  rest,  and  he  reflected  that  it  must  be 
just  so  to-morrow,  and  the  next  day,  and 
so  on  as  long  as  he  lived,  he  was  almost 
in  despair.  "  Oh  !  "  said  he,  how  foolish  I 
was  to  wish  to  be  an  elephant !  I  had 
rather  be  any  thing  else.  What  a  hard 
life  I  lead ! 

"  And  then  such  a  window  as  this  to 
look  out  of,  after  my  hard  day's  work," 
said  he,  as  he  turned  his  eye  upward  to- 
wards a  little  square  hole  in  the  stable 
wall.  "  What  a  window  for  an  elephant's 
residence !  " 

As  he  looked  out  this  hole,  his  eye  rest- 
ed upon  a  green  tree  growing  in  a  garden 
behind  the  wall.  A  bird  was  perched 
upon  a  branch,  singing  an  evening  song. 

"Ah,"  you  little  bird,  what  a  happy 
time  you  must  have  there, — free  as  air, 
and  full  of  happiness.     You  find  plenty  to 


ROLLO'S   DREAM.  57 

eat,  you  have  your  own  pleasant  home  upon 
a  lofty  tree,  out  of  the  reach  of  any  danger. 
You  go  where  you  please  with  your  swift 
wings.  Oh,  if  I  only  had  wings,  how  easily 
I  could  escape  from  all  my  troubles." 

As  he  said  this,  his  long  proboscis  whi<-' 
was  lying  over  his  leg  as  he  was  reclining 
upon  the  stable  floor,  began  to  straighten 
out  and  stiffen,  —  turning  into  a  huge  bill, 
—  feathers  began  to  come  out  all  over 
him — his  immense  body  dwindled  down 
to  the  size  of  an  ox,  then  to  that  of  a  sheep, 
and  finally  he  became  smaller  than  a 
dove.  Beautiful  wings  covered  his  sides. 
He  hopped  along  upon  the  floor,  and  find- 
ing that  he  was  really  a  bird,  he  leaped 
up  and  flew  out  of  the  window,  —  away 
from  the  ugly  stable  forever. 

He  spent  a  pleasant  night  among  the 
trees,  and  early  the  next  morning  was 
singing  blithely  upon  a  branch.     A  man 


58  ROLLO'S    DREAM, 

came  into  the  field  with,  something  in  his 
hand.  Hollo  looked  at  him,  happy  to 
think  that  no  man  could  catch  him  or  hurt 
him,  now  that  he  had  such  a  pair  of  wings. 
In  a  minute  the  man  held  up  the  thing  he 
had  in  his  hands  and  pointed  at  him.  Rol- 
lo  had  just  time  to  see  that  it  was  a  gun, 
and  to  stretch  his  wings  in  terrible  fear, 
when, — -flash, — bang, — went  the  gun,  and 
down  came  the  poor  bird  to  the  ground, 
with  his  wing  and  leg  torn  away,  and  a 
dozen  leaden  shot  lodged  in  his  red 
breast,  —  for  he  was  a  robin.  The  terror 
and  pain  waked  him  up,  and  he  found  him- 
self sitting  in  his  arbor,  with  his  book  on 
the  ground,  where  it  had  fallen  from  his 
hand.  He  got  up.  and  went  to  the  house, 
thinking  that  a  discontented  mind  would 
find  trouble  enough  in  any  situation,  and 
that  a  boy  with  kind  parents,  a  pleasant 
home,  and  plenty  of  food  and  clothing, 


THE   COLD    MORNING.  59 

ought  not  to  complain  of  his  lot,  even  if 
he  was  called  upon  sometimes  to  help  his 
mother. 


THE  COLD  MORNING. 

One  pleasant  morning  in  the  fall  of  the 
year,  little  Charles,  who  had  been  sleep- 
ing on  the  trundle-bed  in  his  mother's 
chamber,  waked  up  and  opened  his  eyes. 
He  looked  around  him,  and  saw  that  his 
father  was  dressing  himself. 

"Father,"  said  he,  "may  I  gei  up 
too  ? ' ' 

"  It  is  pretty  cold  this  morning ;  can  you 
bear  the  cold  long  enough  to  dress  your- 
self? " 

"  But,  father,  I  need  not  stay  here  ;  I 
^an  take  up   my  clothes  and  rvn  down 


60  THE    COLD     MORNING. 

into  the  parlor,  and  dress  me  there  by  the 
fire." 

"  No,  it  is  not  proper  for  any  body  to 
go  to  the  parlor  till  they  are  dressed.  Be- 
sides, perhaps  the  tire  is  not  built  yet." 

By  this  time,  Charles'  nose  had  become 
pretty  cold ;  so  he  said,  "  Well,  I  believe 
I  will  wait ;  ' '  and  he  drew  his  head  under 
the  bedclothes  again. 

In  a  few  minutes  he  became  warm 
again,  and  thought  that  it  would  not  be 
very  cold  if  he  should  get  up,  and  that  if 
it  was,  he  should  not  mind  it.  He  looked 
out  a  second  time,  and  said, 

"  Father,  do  you  think  I  should  have 
time  to  dress  me  before  you  get  ready  to 
go  down  stairs  ?  " 

"  I  think  you  will,  if  you  are  quick." 

"  Do  you  think  I  could  help  you  any 
in  building  the  fire  ?  ' ' 

"  Yes,  you  might  hand  me  the  wood 


THE    COLD    MORNING.  61 

and  carry  out  the  ashes,  and  after  the 
fire  is  built,  you  might  sweep  up  the 
hearth." 

"  Then  I  will  get  up,"  said  Charles  ;  and 
he  sprang  out  of  bed,  and  began  to  dress 
himself. 

In  a  few  minutes,  however,  he  began 
to  be  cold,  and  to  shiver,  and  his  fingers 
grew  numb,  and  he  began  to  wish  he  had 
waited  a  little  longer.  At  last  he  stop- 
ped dressing  himself. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  "it  is  colder  than  I 
thought  it  was.  I  have  a  great  mind  to 
get  into  bed  again." 

"  Well,"  said  his  father,  "  you  can  do 
as  you  please  ;  but-how  far  have  you  got, 
in  dressing  yourself?  " 

"  I  am  about  half  dressed." 

:i  Then  it  will  take  you  about  as  long  to 
undress  again  as  it  would  to  finish  dress- 
ing, and  be  ready  to  go  down." 
6 


62  THE   COLD   MORNING. 

Charles  stood  a  moment  shivering  and 
thinking. 

"So  it  will,"  said  he;  "  I  wish  I  had 
not  put  on  my  jacket," 

After  a  moment's  pause,  he  concluded 
to  finish  dressing,  and  he  went  on  reso- 
lutely through  it ;  and  just  as  his  father 
opened  the  door,  he  took  hold  of  his  hand, 
saying  that  he  was  ready. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  as  they  were  going 
down  stairs,  "  I  think  that  when  any  body 
means  to  do  any  thing,  he  ought  to  think 
of  all  the  difficulties  before  he  begins,  and 
then  go  through  it  quickly  without- stop- 
ping." 

"  Why  ?  "  said  his  father. 

"Because  I  grew  colder  while  I  was 
standing  still,  not  knowing  what  to  do, 
than  all  the  time  while  I  was  dressing;  me. 
And  now  I  shall  be  very  cold  before  we 
get  the  fire  built.     Father,   I  don't  see 


THE  COLD   MORNING.  63 

what  makes  it  cold.     I  wish  it  was  al- 
ways warm  as  it  is  in  summer." 

"  While  we  are  building  the  fire,  I  will 
explain  it  to  you,"  said  his  father.  So 
they  went  down  stairs. 

When  Rollo  read  this  story  he  said  he 
was  sorry  it  left  off  without  telling  why 
it  is  colder  in  the  winter  than  in  the  sum- 
mer, because  he  thought  he  should  like  to 
know.  So  at  breakfast  that  morning,  he 
asked  his  father  to  explain  it  to  him. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  father,  "  I  will  explain 
it  to  you.  It  is  because  in  the  winter  the 
sun  moves  through  such  a  part  of  the  sky 
that  he  does  not  shine  so  well  upon  the 
part  of  the  world  which  we  live  in,  as  he 
does  in  the  summer." 

Rollo  listened  attentively  to  what  his 
father  said,  but  he  thought  he  did  not  un- 
derstand  it   very  well.     So   he   said  he 


64  HOW   TO   READ   RIGHT. 

meant  always  to  dress  himself  quick  in 
the  cold  morning,  and  not  keep  beginning 
and  leaving  off  as  Charles  did. 


HOW  TO  BEAD  EIGHT. 

I  wish  all  the  boys  and  girls  who  may 
read  this  book  to  learn  by  it  to  read  right, 
and  now  I  shall  tell  you  how  to  read  right. 
But  first  I  must  explain  some  things  to 
you  about  the  way  in  which  books  are 
printed.  What  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
now,  is  what  Rollo's  father  explained  io 
him,  after  he  had  learned  to  read  in  easy 
reading,  and  had  learned  all  the  stops,  — 
the  comma,  and  the  period,  and  the  inter- 
rogation mark,  and  all  the  stops.  I  shall 
explain  them  to  you  by  the  help  of  a  story, 
which  I  am  going  to  put  in  here.  I  shall 
stop  telling  the  story  every  few  minutes 


HOW   TO   READ   RIGHT.  65 

to  explain  some  things  about  the  way  of 
printing  it.  Here  is  the  beginning  of  the 
story:  — 

Once  there  was  a  man  who  thought  he  would  go  up 
upon  a  mountain. 

That  is  the  beginning  of  the  story  ;  but 
I  wish  to  stop  a  moment  to  ask  you  to 
look  at  the  letters  which  it  is  printed  with, 
and  see  whether  they  are  as  large  as  the 
reading  before  it.  Is  it  printed  in  just  as 
large  letters,  or  larger,  or  smaller  ?  Yes, 
it  is  smaller.  I  am  going  to  have  all  the 
story  printed  in  smaller  print.  The  rea- 
son is  because  the  principal  thing  I  wish 
to  do  now,  is  to  explain  to  you  how  to 
read,  and  I  only  wish  for  the  story  to  help 
me,  —  so  I  put  it  in  smaller  print,  or  as 
they  generally  call  it  smaller  type.  It  is 
very  often  so  in  books.  One  part  is 
printed  in  larger,  and  the  other  part  in 
6* 


66  HOW   TO    READ    RIGHT. 

smaller  type.  The  most  important  is  in 
large  type.  The  least  important  is  in 
small  type.  If  you  will  ask  your  father  or 
mother,  or  your  brother  or  sister,  if  you 
have  one  old  enough,  they  will  showr  you 
books  with  large  and  small  print  in  them. 
Whenever  you  see  any  thing  printed  in 
smaller  print  than  the  rest  of  the  book,  you 
ought  not  to  read  right  on  without  thinking 
any  thing  of  it ;  but  you  ought  to  pause 
a  minute,  and  observe  it,  and  think  what 
the  reason  is.  Now  I  will  begin  my  story 
again  in  small  print. 

Once  there  was  a  man  who  thought  he  would  go  up 
upon  a  mountain  ;  so  he  rode  along  on  his  horse  till  he 
came  as  near  to  the  mountain  as  he  could,  in  the  road, — 
and  then  he  turned  off  into  the  woods  and  rode  on  until 
he  came  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  He  could  ride  no 
farther ;  so  he  tied  his  horse  to  a  tree. 

Then  he  began  to  walk  up  the  mountain. 

Do  you  see  that  when  we  come  to  the 
word  tree,  just  above  there,  that  we  leave 


HOW   TO   READ   RIGHT.  67 

off  printing  in  that  line.  There  is  a 
period,  and  then  the  rest  of  the  line  has 
nothing  in  it.  It  is  blank,  as  they  call  it, 
that  is  white,  all  white  paper.  The  next 
part  of  the  story  begins  in  the  next  line. 
The  next  part  of  the  story  is,  these  words, 
"  Then  he  began,"  and  that  is  printed  in 
the  next  line.  And  if  you  look  at  it,  you 
will  see  that  it  is  not  exactly  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  line.  The  word  "  Then  "  is 
not  printed  as  near  the  side  of  the  page  as 
the  other  lines  above  it  are.  There  is  a 
little  space  left  blank.  Do  you  see  the 
little  space  left  blank  before  the  "  Then  "  ? 
Now  what  do  you  suppose  is  the  reason 
why  we  left  off  in  the  middle  of  the  line 
and  began  again  in  the  next  line,  leaving 
a  little  blank  space  ?  Why,  it  is  because  I 
had  finished  telling  you  all  about  the 
man's  coming  to  the  mountain,  and  was 
now  going  to  tell  you  about  his  going  up 


68  HOW   TO   READ   RIGHT. 

the  mountain,  and  so  I  thought  it  would 
be  best  to  leave  off  for  that  line,  and  be- 
gin again  in  the  next.  Should  you  like  to 
know  what  such  a  place  is  called  ?  It  is 
called  a  new  paragraph.  A  new  para- 
graph is  made  whenever  we  come  to  any 
new  part  of  the  story.  If  you  look  back 
over  the  leaves  of  this  book  you  will  find 
a  great  many  new  paragraphs  on  all  the 
pages.  If  any  person  says  any  thing  in 
the  story,  we  put  what  he  says  in  a  para- 
graph by  itself.  See  if  you  can  find  some 
new  paragraphs. 

Now,  when  you  come  to  any  new 
paragraph  in  your  reading,  you  ought  not 
to  read  right  forward  without  stopping  or 
noticing  it  at  all.  You  should  pause  a 
little  when  one  paragraph  ends,  and  then 
begin  again  when  the  new  paragraph  be- 
gins, so  that  those  who  hear  you  read;  and 
who  are  not  looking  ever,  may  kn$w  by 


HOW   TO   READ   RIGHT.  69 

the  sound  of  your  voice,  that  you  have 
come  to  a  new  paragraph. 

Now  I  will  go  on  with  the  story,  again, 
beginning  at  the  new  paragraph. 

Then  he  began  to  walk  up.  He  scrambled  through 
the  bushes  for  some  time,  and  at  last  came  out  into  a 
smooth,  but  muddy  path.  Here,  however,  he  was  in  no 
little  difficulty,  for  the  path  was  so  slippery  that  notwith- 
standing all  he  could  do,  he  seemed  rather  to  be  sliding 
down,  than  climbing  up.  • 

Here  we  come  to  the  end  of  another 
paragraph.  And  I  wish  you  to  look  at 
the  word  "down"  in  the  last  line.  Do 
you  see  any  thing  strange  about  it  ?  Is  it 
printed  like  the  other  words  ? 

Once  I  asked  some  children  to  look  at 
a  word  printed  so,  and  to  tell  me  what 
the  difference  was  between  it  and  other 
words.  One  said  it  looked  fainter.  Another 
said  it  looked  smaller.  A  third  said  it 
was  not  printed  with  good  ink.     But  the 


70  HOW   TO   READ    RIGHT. 

true  explanation  is,  the  letters  of  the  word 
are  slanting.  That  is  all.  It  makes  the 
word  look  a  little  fainter. 

You  will  see  that  the  letters  are  differ- 
ent by  looking  first  at  the  d  in  "  sliding," 
which  comes  before  "  down,"  and  then 
looking  at  the  d  in  "  down."  The  d  in 
"  sliding  "  is  straight.  The  din  "down"  is 
slanting ;  all  the  other  letters  in  down 
are  slanting.  Do  you  know  what  this 
kind  of  printing  is  called  ?  It  is  called 
Italic. 

The  word  "  down  "  in  the  story  is  print- 
ed in  Italics.  The  reason  why  it  is  print- 
ed in  Italics  is  because  I  wanted  you  to 
notice  it  particularly.  It  is  remarkable 
that  while  the  man  was  trying  to  get  up, 
he  should,  instead  of  that,  slide  down.  So 
I  had  the  word  printed  differently,  that  you 
might  notice  it  particularly.  Whenever 
you  are  reading  and  come  to  any  word 


HOW    TO    READ    RIGHT.  71 

printed  in  Italics,  you  must  notice  it,  and 
speak  it  very  distinctly,  for  it  is  an  im- 
portant word. 

Look  back  in  this  book  and  see  if  you 
can  find  some  words  printed  in  Italics. 
When  you  find  one,  read  the  sentence  it 
is  in  aloud,  and  speak  the  word  which  is 
in  Italics  very  plain  and  distinct,  and  see 
if  you  do  not  understand  the  sentence 
better. 

You  must  always  read  such  words  very 
distinctly  in  all  books  except  the  Bible. 
In  the  Bible,  the  words  are  put  in  Italics 
for  a  different  reason,  which  I  cannot  ex- 
plain to  you  now.  Now  I  will  go  on  with 
the  story. 

He  at  last  got  over  this  slippery  part  of  the  path,  and 
then  came  to  a  place  where  it  was  very  rocky.  Trees  and 
bushes  hung  over  his  head,  and  grew  thick  all  around 
him,  and  he  began  to  be  afraid  that  he  might  meet  some 
wild  beast.  Presently  he  looked  through  the  bushes,  and 
aaw  at  a  distance  among  the  rocks,  some  large  black  thing, 


72  HOW   TO   READ   RIGHT. 

and  he  thought  it  was  a  bear.  He  was  very  much  fright 
ened,  and  began  to  scream  out  as  loud  as  he  could,  Help, 
Help,  Help. 

.  Do  you  notice  any  thing  remarkable  in 
those  three  last  words  ?  Are  they  print- 
ed like  the  other  words  ?  Are  .  they 
printed  in  Italics  ?  How  do  they  differ 
from  common  printing  ?  Can  you  tell  ? 
Do  you  often  see  words  printed  so  ? 

They  are  printed  in  Capitals.  Capitals 
are  letters  shaped  differently  from  other 
letters.  They  are  generally  larger  than 
other  letters,  but  not  always.  These 
words  are  printed  in  capitals,  because  they 
are  very  important  indeed.  The  man 
cried,  Help,  Help,  Help,  very  loud.  So 
we  print  them  in  Capitals.  If  a  word  is 
very  important,  we  generally  print  it  in 
Italics,  but  if  it  is  very  important  indeed 
we  print  it  in  Capitals.  When  you  come 
to  a  word  printed  in  Capitals,  you  must 


HOW    TO    READ    EIGHT.  73 

generally  read  it  very  plain  and  distinctly 
indeed.  I  should  like  to  have  you  look 
back  to  the  story  of  Jonas,  and  see  how 
the  words  are  printed  where  the  boy  said 
"  Whoa."  Can  you  tell  the  reason  why 
they  are  printed  so  ?  and  can  you  read 
them  right  ?  But  let  us  go  on  with  the 
story. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  shouted  for  help  so  loud,  he 
grasped  hold  of  a  tree  close  by,  and  began  to  climb  it,  by 
the  branches,  to  get  out  of  the  bear's  way.  When  he  got 
up  a  little  way,  he  could  see  over  the  bushes  to  the  very 
place  where  the  bear  was  ;  he  looked  there,  and  saw  — ■ 
what  do  you  think  it  was  ? 

You  see  a  straight  mark  printed  after 
"  saw."  Do  you  see  it?  What  do  you  sup- 
pose it  is  ?  It  is  what  they  call  a  dash. 
The  reason  why  I  put  the  dash  there,  is 
that  I  was  going  to  tell  you  what  the  man 
saw,  but  I  suddenly  stopped,  and  asked 
you  what  you  thought  it  was.     When  we 

7 


74  HOW   TO    READ    RIGHT. 

suddenly  stop  in  saying  any  thing,  and 
begin  to  say  something  else,  we  put  in  a 
dash.  So  we  use  a  dash  in  some  other 
ways.  You  ought  to  stop  a  little  when 
you  come  to  a  dash,  thus  ;  "  He  looked 
there  and  saw  —  what  do  you  think  it 
was  ?  "  Dashes  are  generally  put  in,  when 
we  want  you  to  stop  a  little  in  your  read- 
ing.    Now  for  the  story  again. 

He  looked,  and  saw  —  what  do  you  think  it  was  ?  Why, 
it  was  nothing  but  an  old,  black  log !  ! 

Do  you  see  two  characters  at  the  end 
of  that  sentence  ?  They  are  notes  of  ex- 
clamation. When  two  of  them  are  put 
together  they  mean  that  what  comes  be- 
fore them  is  very  extraordinary  and  sur- 
prising. Should  you  not  think  it  was  very 
extraordinary  and  surprising  for  a  man  to 
think  he  saw  a  bear,  and  be  frightened 
and  shout  help,  and  climb  up  into  a  tree, 


HOW   TO    READ    EIGHT.  75 

and  find,  after  all,  that  it  was  nothing  but 
a  great,  black  log  ?  It  is  surprising,  and 
when  you  read  it,  you  must  read  it  as  if 
you  thought  it  was  very  surprising,  so ; 
' '  What  do  you  think  it  was  ?  Why  it 
was  nothing  but  an  old,  black  log  ! !  "  You 
can  get  your  father  or  mother  to  show 
you  how  to  read  it,  if  you  do  not  know. 

It  was  nothing  but  an  old,  black  log,  lying  against  the 
rocks.  The  man  felt  ashamed.  He  clambered  down,  and 
went  to  look  at  the  log  which  had  frightened  him  so.  It 
was  as  black  as  a  coal*  The  man  laughed  to  think  that 
he  should  have  supposed  that  to  be  a  bear. 

• 

Do  you  see  after  the  word  coal,  in  the 
last  line  but  one,  a  little  star  ?  Do  you 
know  what  that  star  is  for?  It  is  to  make 
you  look  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  page, 
and  there  you  will  find  something  more 
about  the  black  wood.     When  you  come 

*  It  was  burnt  black  by  a  fire,  which  somebody  had 
built  there  a  great  while  before. 


76  HOW   TO   KEAD    RIGHT. 

to  any  little  star  then,  when  you  are  read- 
ing, you  must  look  down  to  the  bottom 
of  the  page,  and  there  you  will  find  an- 
other little  star,  with  something  printed 
after  it.  That  which  is  printed  thus  at  the 
bottom  of  a  page  is  called  a  note. 

Other  characters  besides  stars  are  made 
for  notes.  These  are  some  of  the  charac- 
ters ;  §  \  j*  %.  There  are  not  many  notes 
in  this  book.  Perhaps  you  will  find  some 
by  and  by. 

This  is  all  that  I  have  to  tell  you  now 
about  reading.  But  now  I  will  put  in  the 
whole  story  about  the  man  going  up  the 
mountain,  and  you  may  see  if  you  can 
read  it  all  right,  and  see  too,  if  you  re- 
member all  that  I  have  explained. 


77 


CLIMBING  UP  A  MOUNTAIN. 

Once  there  was  a  man  who  thought 
he  would  go  up  upon  a  mountain  ;  so  he 
rode  along  upon  his  horse  till  he  came  as 
near  the  mountain  as  he  could,  and  then 
he  turned  off  into  the  woods  and  rode  on 
until  he  came  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 
He  could  ride  no  farther  ;  so  he  tied  his 
horse  to  a  tree. 

Then  he  began  to  walk  up.  He 
scrambled  through  the  bushes  for  some 
time,  and  at  last  came  out  into  a  smooth 
but  muddy  path.  Here,  however,  he  was 
in  no  little  difficulty,  for  the  path  was  so 
slippery  that,  notwithstanding  all  he  could 
do,  he  seemed  rather  to  be  sliding  down, 
than  climbing  up. 

He  at  last  got  over  this  slippery  part 

of  the  path,  and  then  came  to  a  place 
7  * 


78  CLIMBING   UP   A    MOUNTAIN. 

where  it  was  very  -rocky.  Trees  and 
bushes  hung  over  his  head,  and  grew  thick, 
all  around  him,  and  he  began  to  be  afraid 
that  he  might  meet  with  some  wild  beast. 
Presently  he  looked  through  the  bushes, 
and  saw  at  a  distance  among  the  rocks, 
some  large,  black  thing,  and  he  thought  it 
was  a  bear.  He  was  very  much  fright- 
ened, and  began  to  scream  out  as  loud  as 
he  could,  Help,  Help,  Help. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  shouted  for 
help  so  loud,  he  grasped  hold  of  a  tree 
close  by,  and  began  to  climb  it,  by  the 
branches,  to  get  out  of  the  bear's  way. 
When  he  got  up  a  little  way  he  could  see 
over  the  bushes  to  the  very  place  where 
the  bear  was ;  he  looked  there  and  saw, 
—  what  do  you  think  it  was  ?  Why  it 
was  nothing  but  an  old,  black  log  I  An 
old,  black  log,  lying  against  the  rocks.  The 
man  felt  ashamed.     He  clambered  down 


CLIMBING    UP   A    MOUNTAIN.  79 

and  went  to  look  at  the  log  which  had 
frightened  him  so.  It  was  as  black  as  a 
coal.  *  The  man  laughed  to  think  that  he 
should  have  supposed  that  to  be  a  bear. 

He  determined  not  to  be  so  foolish 
another  time,  and  then  he  went  along 
climbing  up  the  mountain.  It  was  steep 
and  rocky,  and  there  were  bushes  and 
trees  each  side  of  the  path.  He  had  to 
stop  often  to  take  breath  and  rest  him- 
self. At  last  he  reached  the  top,  and 
could  see  a  great  many  miles  all  around. 
He  could  see  woods  and  farms  and  towns 
and  rivers  away  down,  down,  very  far 
below  him. 

After  a  while  he  came  down  the  moun- 
tain. He  walked  very  carefully,  so  as  not 
to  fall.  When  he  came  to  where  the  old 
black  log  was,  he  looked  at  it  and  laughed. 

*  It  was  burnt  black  by  a  fire  wbicb  somebody-had  built 
there  a  great  while  before. 


80 


KOLLO  GETTING   EEADY  FOR   HIS 
FATHER. 

One  day  little  Rollo  was  sitting  by  the 
fire  on  his  green  cricket.  His  mother 
was  sewing  at  her  work-table. 

"Mother,"  said  Rollo,  "when  do  you 
think  father  will  come  home  ?  ' ' 
'  His  mother  said,  "  I  think  he  will  come 
home  pretty  soon." 

"Then,"  said  Rollo,  "I  think  I  had 
better  get  a  chair  for  him." 

So  he  went  and  took  hold  of  the  great 
rocking-chair,  to  pull  it  to  the  fire  for  his 
father  ;  but  it  was  so  heavy  that  it  would 
not  come.     So  Rollo  began  to  cry. 

His  mother  looked  up  and  said,  "  Rollo, 
what  is  the  matter  ?  ' ' 

Rollo  said,  ' '  This  rocking-chair  will  not 
come." 


GETTING    READY    FOR    FATHER.  83 

"  Where  do  you  want  to  carry  it?  " 

"  I  want  it  to  be  by  the  fire,  so  that 
my  father  can  sit  in  it  when  he  comes 
home,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Why  do  you  want  your  father  to 
have  it?  " 

"Because;"  said  he.  He  did  not 
know  exactly  how  to  tell  the  reason,  and 
so  he  only  said  "  Because." 

"It  is  because  you  wish  to  please  him 
and  to  save  him  trouble,  is  it  not?  " 

"Yes,  mother,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Well,  do  you  not  think  it  displeases 
me  and  gives  me  trouble  to  have  you  cry, 
and  make  me  get  up  and  come  and  move 
the  chair  for  you  ?  ' ' 

Rollo  knew  it  did,  but  he  did  not  an- 
swer. 

Then  his  mother  said,  "  What  good 
does  it  do  to  displease  me  and  make  me 


84  THE   WAY   TO   OBEY. 

trouble,  for  the  sake  of  pleasing  father 
and  saving  him  trouble  ?  ' ' 

Hollo  could  not  answer  this  question  ; 
so  he  kept  swinging  and  rocking,  back 
and  forth,  on  the  chair.  His  mother 
went  on  with  her  work. 

By  and  by  he  said,  "Well,  I  can  get 
my  father's  slippers  for  him." 

So  he  went  to  the  little  closet  by  the 
side  of  the  fire,  and  took  out  the  slippers, 
and  put  them  down  in  the  corner,  and 
then  when  his  father  came  in,  he  ran  to 
the  door  to  meet  him,  and  he  said, 

"Father,  father,  I  could  not  move  up 
your  chair,  but  there  are  your  slippers  all 
ready." 

THE  WAY  TO   OBEY. 

When  Rollo  was  about  five  years  old, 
his  mother'  one  evening  took  him  up  in 
her  lap,  and  said, 


THE   WAY   TO    OBEY.  85 

"  Well,  Rollo,  it  is  about  time  for  you  to 
go  to  bed." 

"  Oh,  mamma,"  said  Rollo,  "  must  I  go 
now  f 

"Did  you  know,"  said  his  mother, 
' '  that  it  is  wrong  for  you  to  say  that  ?  ' ' 

"  Why,  mother,"  said  Rollo,  surprised. 

"  When  I  think  it  is  time  for  you  to  go 
to  bed,  it  is  wrong  for  you  to  say  or  do 
any  thing  which  shows  that  you  are  not 
willing  to  go." 

"  Why,  mother?  " 

"  Because  that  makes  it  more  unpleas- 
ant for  you  to  go,  and  more  unpleasant  for 
me  to  send  you.  Now  whenever  I  think 
that  it  is  time  for  you  to  go,  it  is  my  duty 
to  send  you,  and  it  is  your  duty  to  go, 
and  we  never  ought  to  do  any  thing  to 
make  our  duty  unpleasant." 

Rollo  then  said  nothing.     He  sat  still  a 
few  minutes  thinking. 
8 


86  THE   WAY    TO    0BEI1. 

"Do  you  understand  it?"  said  his 
mother. 

"  Yes,  mother  ;  "   said  Rollo. 

"Suppose  now  any  mother  should  say 
to  her  boy,  '  Come,  my  boy,  it  is  time 
for  you  to  go  to  bed  ;  '  and  the  boy  should 
say,  '  I  won't  go.'  Would  that  be  right 
or  wrong  ?  ' ' 

"  Oh,  very  wrong,"  said  Rollo. 

' '  Suppose  he  should  begin  to  cry,  and 
say  he  did  not  want  to  go  ?  " 

"  That  would  be  very  wrong  too,"  said 
Rollo. 

' '  Suppose  he  should  begin  to  beg  a 
little,  and  say,  '  I  don't  want  to  go  now, 
I  should  think  you  might  let  me  sit  up  a 
little  longer.'  What  should  you  think  of 
that?" 

"  It  would  be  wrong." 

' '  Suppose  he  should  look  up  into  his 
mother's  face  sorrowfully,  and  say,  '  Must 
I  go  now,  mother? 


THE   WAY   TO   OBEY.  87 

"  Wrong,"  —  said  Hollo,  faintly. 

"Suppose  lie  should  not  say  a  word, 
but  look  cross  and  ill-humored,  and  throw 
away  his  playthings  in  a  pet,  and  walk  by 
the  side  of  his  mother,  reluctantly  and 
slowly.    What  should  you  think  of  that  ? ' ' 

"  I  think  it  would  be  wrong." 

"Suppose  he  should  look  pleasantly, 
and  say,  'Well  mother,'  and  come  pleas- 
antly to  take  her  hand,  and  bid  the  per- 
sons in  the  room  good  night,  and  walk  off 
cheerfully." 

"  That  would  be  right ;  "   said  Rollo. 
'Yes,"  said  his  mother,  "  and  always 
when  a  child    is    told    to  do  any  thing, 
whether  it  is  pleasant  to  do  or  not,  he 
ought  to  obey  at  once,  and  cheerfully." 


HOLLO'S  BEEAKFAST. 

Hollo  was  sitting  one  morning  by  the 
fire-side,  before  breakfast,  reading  in  a  lit- 
tle blue  covered  hymn-book.  Presently 
Mary  brought  in  the  breakfast ;  and  Hollo 
was  glad,  and  jumped  up  from  his  little 
low  chair  at  the  lire,  and  went  and  brought 
his  high  chair,  and  put  it  at  his  place  at 
the  table. 

When  they  were  all  ready,  they  stood 
still,  while  Hollo's  father  said  in  a  slow 
and  serious  manner,  "Almighty  God,  we 
thank  thee  that  thou  hast  again  spread 
this  table  for  us,  and  prepared  this  food. 
Help  us  now  to  receive  it  thankfully,  and 
may  it  strengthen  us  to  obey  thy  com- 
mands this  day ;  we  ask  it  for  Christ's 
sake."     Then  they  sat  down. 

Hollo  knew  that  this  was  called  asking 


ROLLO'S    BREAKFAST.  89 

a  blessing,  and  he  had  always  been  taught 
to  be  very  still,  and  very  attentive,  while 
it  was  done.  He  did  not  know  however, 
exactly  what  it  was  for,  and  he  thought 
he  would  now  ask  his  father. 

His  father  told  him  it  was  to  thank 
God  for  their  breakfast. 

Rollo  asked  his  father  whether  God 
gave  them  their  breakfast. 

"Yes,"  said  his  father,  "God  causes 
our  breakfast  to  be  brought  to  us  from 
many  distant  places.' ' 

"  Where  do  the  knives  and  forks  come 
from?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  They  come  from  England.  The  men 
dig  up  the  iron  out  of  the  ground  to  make 
the  blades,  and  take  horn  and  make  the 
handles,  and  then  roll  them  up  in  a  paper 
?nd  put  them  in  a  ship.  The  ship  brings 
them  across  the  ocean,  more  than  a  thou- 
sand miles,  to  Boston.  Then  the  wag- 
»* 


90  EOLLO'S    BREAKFAST. 

goner  puts  them  in  his  waggon,  and  brings 
them  over  the  hills  and  valleys  away  to 
this  town  where  we  live,  —  all  that  little 
Rollo  may  have  a  knife  and  fork  to  eat 
his  breakfast." 

"  Where  do  the  plates  come  from  ?  " 
"  They  come  from  England.  The  men 
find  a  bank  of  white  clay,  and  they  mix 
up  some  of  it  with  water,  until  it  is  like 
dough.  Then  they  make  it  into  the  shape 
of  plates,  and  cups,  and  saucers,  and  paint 
them  blue  ;  and  put  them  into  a  large,  hot 
oven,  and  bake  them  hard.  When  they 
are  cooled,  they  pack  them  up  in  a  sort  of 
a  basket,  large  and  square  ;  and  put  straw 
and  hay  between  them,  so  that  they  need 
not  break.  And  so  they  bring  them  over 
the  waves,  and  over  the  hills,  away  to  the 
town  we  live  in,  so  that  little  Rollo  may 
have  a  plate  when  he  eats  his  breakfast." 
"  Where  does  the  coffee  come  from  ?  " 


hollo's  breakfast.  91 

"  It  comes  from  Cuba.  The  negroes 
plant  a  tree  and  take  good  care  of  it  while 
it  grows,  until  there  are  a  great  many 
kernels  of  coffee  upon  it.  They  gather 
them  when  they  are  ripe,  and  sew  them 
up  in  a  bag,  and  send  them  all  the  way 
over  the  sea,  and  over  the  land,  across  the 
rivers  and  mountains  and  rocks.  When 
they  come  here,  Mary  burns  them  brown, 
and  grinds  them  in  the  mill,  and  heats  the 
water,  all  that  little  Rollo  may  have  sonie 
coffee  to  drink  for  breakfast." 

:<  Where  does  the  bread  come  from?" 
"  When  the  summer  begins,  the  little 
green  blades  of  wheat  grow  up  out  of  the 
ground,  in  the  farmer's  fields.  God  waters 
it  with  showers,  and  warms  it  with  the 
sun,  so  that  it  grows  and  grows  and  grows, 
till  it  is  higher  than  Hollo's  head.  Then 
the  little  grains  of  wheat  grow  in  the  top 
of  it,  and  when  they  are  ripe,  the  farmer 


92  hollo's  breakfast. 

cuts  them  down,  and  pounds  them  out 
with  a  great  heavy  flail,  and  puts  them 
in  a  bag,  and  sends  them  to  mill.  At  the 
mill  they  are  ground  between  two  great 
stones,  into  fine,  white  flour,  and  the  baker 
mixes  the  flour  and  water  ;  and  makes 
the  dough,  and  bakes  it  in  his  great  hot 
oven,  all  that  little  Rollo  may  have  some 
bread  for  breakfast." 

"Well,  but  father,"  said  Rollo,  "how 
does  God  give  us  our  breakfast  then  ?  " 

His  father  said,  "  Why,  it  is  God  who 
made  the  iron  in  the  ground  for  the  knives, 
and  the  clay  for  the  plates  and  cups.  He 
brings  the  summer  and  the  sun.  He 
makes  the  wheat  sprout  up  and  grow,  and 
brings  the  showers  of  rain.  He  takes 
care  too,  of  all  the  men  who  shape  the 
cups,  and  make  the  knives,  and  gather  the 
coffee,  and  grind  the  wheat.  He  does  all 
this  kindly  for  us,  —  so  that  Rollo  and  all 


FICTITIOUS   STORIES.  95 

the  other  boys  in  the  world  may  have 
some  breakfast.  I  think  we  ought  to 
thank  him." 

Hollo  did    not  say  any  thing,  but  he 
thought  so  too. 


FICTITIOUS   STORIES. 

"Father,  will  you  tell  me  a  story?'1 
said  Hollo  one  day. 

Hollo's  father  was  sitting  on  the  plat- 
form, leading  out  to  the  garden-yard.  *  It 
was  a  pleasant  summer  evening,  just  be- 
fore sunset. 

"  Shall  it  be  a  true  story,  or  a  fictitious 
one  ?  ' '   said  his  father. 

*  They  called  it  the  garden-yard,  because  it  led  out  to 
the  garden.  You  can  see  Jonas  in  the  picture,  wheeling 
out  a  load  of  weeds,  along  the  path  from  the  garden  to 
the  barn-yard. 


96  FICTITIOUS   STOKIEft. 

"  What  is  fictitious  ?  "  asked  Rollo. 

"  A  story  that  is  not  true." 

"  But  it  would  be  wrong  for  you  to  tell 
me  any  thing  that  was  not  true,  would  it 
not?  "  said  Rollo. 

"  Do  you  think  it  would  be  certainly 
wrong  ?  ' ' 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Suppose  you  were  coming  along  the 
yard,  and  were  riding  on  my  cane,  and 
should  come  up  to  me  and  say,  '  Papa, 
this  is  my  horse.  See  what  a  noble  horse 
I  have  got.'     Would  that  be  wrong  ?  " 

"No,  sir." 

"Would  it  be  true?" 

"No,  sir,  —  It  would  not  be  a  real 
horse." 

"Now  do  you  know  why  it  would  be 
right  in  this  case  for  you  to  say  it  was  a 
horse,  when  it  was  not?" 

Rollo  could  not  tell. 


FICTITIOUS   STOEIES.  97 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  said  his  father.  "  Be- 
cause you  would  not  be  trying  to  deceive 
me.  I  could  see  your  horse,  as  you  call 
him,  and  could  see  that  it  was  nothing 
but  a  cane.  You  would  not  be  trying  to 
deceive  me,  to  make  me  think  it  was  a 
real  horse  when  it  was  not." 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Hollo. 

"  If  you  should  say  any  thing  which  is 
not  strictly  true,  and  want  to  make  me 
think  it  is  true,  that  would  be  very  wrong. 
That  would  be  telling  a  lie.  So  it  would 
be  very  wrong  for  me  to  tell  you  any  thing 
which  is  not  true,  and  try  to  make  you 
think  it  is  true.        But  it  is  not  wrong  for 

o 

me  to  make  up  a   little  story  to  amuse 
you,  if  I  do  not  try  to  deceive  you  by  it." 

:'  Would  that  be  a  fictitious  story?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Well,   father,  I  should  like   to  have 
you  tell  me  a  fictitious  story." 
9 


y©  THE    FLY  S    MORNING   WALK. 

"  Well,  I  will  tell  )7ou  one.  The  name 
of  it  is,  The  Fly's  Morning  Walk."  So 
Rollo's  father  took  his  little  boy  up  in  his 
lap,  and  told  him  the  following  fictitious 
story. 


THE  FLY'S  MORNING  WALK. 

Once  there  was  a  little  fly  with  broad, 
thin  wings  and  round  body  and  two  great 
eyes.  When  he  waked  up  in  the  morn- 
ing, he  found  he  was  standing  on  the  wall, 
and  he  thought  he  would  go  and  find 
something  for  breakfast. 

He  flew  down  upon  the  table,  and  then 
crept  along.  First  he  found  a  little  grain 
of  sand,  and  said  he,  "  I  wonder  if  this  is 
good  to  eat."  So  he  reached  out  his  long 
proboscis  to  it,  and  tried  to  taste  of  it,  but 


THE   FLY'S   MORNING   WALK.  99 

he  found  it  was  dry  and  rough  and  hard. 
"Oh,  no,  no,  no,"  said  he,  "this  is  not 
good  to  eat." 

Then  he  walked  along  a  little  farther, 
and  came  to  some  dust.  And  he  said, 
"  I  wonder  whether  this  is  good  to  eat." 
So  he  reached  out  his  long  proboscis  to  it, 
and  tried  to  taste  of  it ;  but  he  found  it 
was  dry  and  insipid,  and  it  stuck  all  over 
the  end  of  his  proboscis,  and  he  said,  "  Oh, 
no,  no,  no,  this  is  not  good  to  eat." 

Then  he  went  along  until  he  came  to  a 
pin,  and  he  said,  "  I  wonder  whether  this 
is  good  to  eat."  So  he  reached  out  his  long 
proboscis,  and  tried  to  taste  of  it,  but  it 
was  smooth  and  hard  and  round,  and  he 
could  not  taste  of  it  at  all.  And  he  said, 
"  OK,  no,  no,  no,  this  is  not  good  to  eat." 

Then  he  went  round  to  the  point  of  the 
pin,  and  he  said,  "  I  wonder  whether  this 
is  good  to  eat"  ;  but  as  soon  as  he  touched 


100  THE    FLY'S   MOENING   WALK. 

his  long  proboscis  to  it,  it  pricked  the  end 
of  it,  and  he  started  back  and  said,  "  Oh, 
no,  no,  no,  this  is  not  good  to  eat." 

Then  he  went  along  a  little  further,  and 
came  to  a  crack  in  the  table,  and  he  said, 
"  I  wonder  whether  there  is  any  thing 
here  good  to  eat."  So  he  reached  down 
his  long  proboscis  into  it,  and  got  it  pinched 
in,  so  be  cried  out,  "Oh,  oh,  oh,  this  is  not 
good  to  eat." 

Then  he  went  along  a  little  further,  and 
by  this  time  he  began  to  be  very  hungry, 
and  presently,  he  saw  a  very  small  thing 
lying  on  the  table,  and  he  walked  up  to  it, 
and  began  to  feel  of  it  with  his  long  pro- 
boscis, and  found  it  tasted  very  sweet  and 
good.  It  was  a  little  piece  of  a  sugar-dog, 
which  a  boy  had  dropped  there,  and  he 
said,  "  Oh,  yes,  yes,  yes,  this  is  very  good 
to  eat."  Thus  at  last  the  little  fly  found 
some  breakfast. 


101 

WAKING  UP. 

Rollo's  father  was  a  very  kind  father. 
He  took  very  good  care  of  his  little  boy. 
He  had  a  little  trundle-bed  made  for  him 
to  sleep  in,  and  good  warm  clothes  for  him 
to  wear,  and  besides  he  would  very  often 
talk  to  him  very  kindly  and  pleasantly. 

Once  Rollo's  mother  took  cold  and  be- 
came sick.  Her  sickness  increased  for 
several  days,  until  at  last  it  became  ne- 
cessary for  her  to  have  a  nurse  come  and 
take  care  of  her. 

That  night  Rollo  was  put  to  bed  in 
another  chamber,  and  his  father  came  to 
hear  him  say  his  prayers,  and  to  bid  him 
good  night.  He  put  his  cheek  down  to 
Rollo's,  and  they  both  prayed,  first  one 
and  then  the  other,  that  God  would  take 
care  of  them  both,  and  forgive  their  sins: 
9* 


102  .  WAKING   UP. 

and  give  them  good  and  holy  hearts,  and 
prepare  them  for  heaven. 

Just  before  his  father  went  away,  he 
said, 

"  Hollo,  I  am  going  to  sleep  here  with 
you  to-night." 

"  Are  you  ?  "  said  Hollo. 

' '  Yes  ;  the  nurse  is  going  to  take  care 
of  mother,  and  in  an  hour  or  two,  I  shall 
come  here  and  go  to  bed.  Now  when 
the  morning  comes,  if  you  will  pull  me, 
and  wake  me  up,  I  will  tell  you  a  little 
story." 

"Well,"  said  Hollo,  "I  will." 

Then  his  father  took  up  the  light  to  go 
away. 

Rollo  did  not  want  to  have  the  light 
taken  away,  and  he  said,  "  Father,  are 
you  going  to  carry  away  the  light?  " 

"Yes, —  wouldn't  you?"  said  his 
father. 


WAKING   UP.  103 

"  No,  sir,  I  think  I  wouldn't."  ■ 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  think  I  must  take  the  light 
away,  and  you  must  shut  up  your  eyes 
and  go  to  sleep." 

So  Rollo  laid  his  cheek  upon  the  pil- 
low, and  shut  up  his  eyes,  though  they 
quivered  a  little,  because  he  was  not 
sleepy,  and  pretty  soon  his  father  went 
away. 

The  next  morning,  little  Rollo  was 
awakened  by  some  one  rubbing  him, 
and  when  he  opened  his  eyes  he  found 
that  it  was  his  father,  whose  face  was 
close  to  his  upon  the  pillow. 

"  Rollo,"  said  he,  "I  told  you,  last 
night,  that  if  you  would  pull  me  and  wake 
me  up,  this  morning,  I  would  tell  you  a 
little  story  :  but  you  kept  asleep  all  this 
time,  so  I  had  to  pull  you  and  rub  you 
and  wake  you  up  ;  was  not  that  funny  ?  " 

Rollo  smiled  faintly,  for  he  was  not 
yet  quite  awake. 


104  WAKING   UP. 

Pretty  soon  he  opened  his  eyes  wide, 
and  looked  around  the  room.  He  saw 
that  the  window-curtains  were  very  light, 
and  he  perceived  that  it  was  morning. 
His  father  then  put  his  face  to  his,  and 
said  these  words.  He  was  praying  to 
Almighty  God. 

"  Oh,  God,  thou  hast  been  in  this  room 
all  night,  watching  and  taking  care  of  little 
Hollo  and  me  while  we  have  been  asleep. 
We  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  kept  us 
safely.  Wilt  thou  take  care  of  us  all  the 
day,  and  make  us  kind  to  all  in  the  house. 
Do  not  let  Hollo  be  disobedient  or  obsti- 
nate or  ungrateful  or  unkind  to  little 
Lucy ;  and  make  us  all  good  and  happy, 
for  Christ's  sake,  Amen." 

Rollo  was  still  and  attentive  while  his 
father  said  these  words.  He  wanted  God 
to  hear  and  do  what  his  father  asked. 

"  Rollo,"  said  his  father,  a  few  minute? 


WAKING   UP.  105 

afterwards,  "  what  are  you  going  to  do  all 
day  to-day  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  saidRollo,  "  I  am  going  to  play." 

"  Where  are  you  going  to  get  your 
breakfast  ? ' ' 

"  Oh,  I  am  going  to  get  it  down  stairs, 
in  the  parlor." 

"But  whose  breakfast  is  that  down  in 
the  parlor?     Is  it  yours?  " 

"No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  buy  it  with  your  money?" 

"No,  sir." 

"  Shall  you  get  it  ready  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,  I  do  not  know  how  to  get 
the  breakfast  ready." 

' '  Then  it  is  not  your  breakfast ;  it  is  all 
my  breakfast ;  but  as  you  have  not  got 
any  breakfast  of  your  own,  I  believe  I  will 
let  you  have  some  of  my  breakfast.  But 
what  are  you  going  to  do  for  a  house  to 
live  in  all  day?  " 


106  WAKING    UP. 

"Oil,"  said  Hollo,  "I  am  going  to  live 
in  this  house." 
•    "  But  is  this  your  house  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"Isn't  it  yours?     Did  not  you  build 
it?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"Did  not  you  buy  it?" 

"No,  sir." 

"And  haven't  you  got   any  house   to 
live  in?  " 

"  No,  sir,  not  unless  you  let  me  live  in 
yours." 

"  Well,  if  you  have  not  any  house  to 
live  in,  I  will  let  you  live  in  mine  to-day." 

Just  then  Hollo  pointed  up  to  the  wall, 
and  said, 

"  See,  there  is  a  tiger  on  the  wall ;  —  it 
looks  like  a  tiger." 

His  father  looked  up  at  the  irregular 
lines  on  the  wall,  which  had  attracted  his 


WAKING   UP.  107 

little  boy's  attention,  but  he  could  not  see 
any  thing  that  resembled  a  tiger. 

"  I  don't  see,"  said  his  father  ;  "  where 
in  his  head?  " 

*'  He  has  not  got  any  head  ;  it  is  not  a 
tiger,  it  only  looks  like  a  tiger.  It  has 
got  a  tail." 

"  Well,  where  is  his  tail  ?  " 

"I  —  don't  —  know.  I  see  a  stag, 
too,  and  camel." 

In  a  minute  or  two  his  father  turned 
Hollo's  face  over  gently  towards  himself, 
so  that  his  attention  should  not  be  attract- 
ed by  what  he  saw  there.  He  wanted 
him  to  listen  to  what  he  was  saying  to 
him. 

"  Well,  Rollo,"  said  he,  "whose  clothes 
are  you  going  to  wear  to-day  ?  ' ' 

"  Oh,  I  am  going  to  wear  my  clothes," 
said  Hollo  ;  "  yours  would  be  a  great  deal 
too  big." 


108  WAKING   UP. 

"  Have  you  got  any  clothes  ?  '* 

11  Yes,  sir." 

"  Where  did  you  get  them  ?  " 

"I  —  don't  —  know,"  said  Hollo, 
hesitating. 

"  The  clothes  which  you  wore  yester- 
day belong  to  me, ' '  said  his  father.  ' '  Have 
you  got  any  others  ?  ' ' 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Rollo ;  "I  have  got 
some  up  stairs  in  the  drawer." 

"  Well,  those  belong  to  me.  I  paid  for 
them  with  my  money,  and  I  might  sell 
them  or  give  them  away  at  any  time,  if  I 
chose.     Have  you  not  got  any  others  ? 

"No,  sir,"  said  Rollo. 

"  Well,"  said  his  father,  "  I  shall  let  you 
wear  those  clothes  of  mine  then.  I  am 
very  glad  I  have  got  a  house,  and  some 
breakfast,  and  some  clothes  for  my  little 
Rollo  boy  since  you  have  not  got  any  of 
your  own.     But  I  think  if  I  get  a  house 


EOLLO'S    PRAYER.  109 

for  you  to  live  in,  and  breakfast  for  you 
to  eat,  and  clothes  for  you  to  wear,  you 
ought  to  be  a  very  careful,  faithful,  obedi- 
ent little  boy." 


EOLLO'S   PRAYEE. 

Every  night,  when  Rollo  went  to  bed,  he 
said  a  prayer  which  his  father  had  taught 
him.  It  is  an  excellent  plan  for  a  boy  or 
girl  to  say  their  prayers  every  night.  For 
you  have  probably  done  something  wrong 
during  the  day,  and  you  ought  not  to  go 
to  sleep  until  you  are  forgiven.  Besides, 
God  has  taken  care  of  you  through  the 
day,  and  you  ought  not  to  go  to  sleep  till 
you  have  sincerely  thanked  him,  and  asked 
him  to  take  care  of  you  through  the  night, 
while  you  sleep.  I  will  tell  you  what 
Hollo's  prayer  was,  and  I  think  you  had 
10 


110  hollo's  peayee. 

better  learn  it,  and  say  it  every  night  be- 
fore you  go  to  sleep,  unless  you  have  al- 
ready learned  some  other  one. 
The  Prayer. 

Now  that  another  day  is  gone,  and  I 
lay  down  my  head  upon  my  pillow  to  rest, 
I  come  to  thee,  Almighty  God,  my  Heav- 
enly Father,  to  ask  thee  to  forgive  my 
sins,  and  to  take  care  of  me  this  night. 

I  have  done  wrong  a  great  many  times, 
—  and  destroyed  my  own  peace  of  mind, 
and  made  my  father  and  mother  unhappy, 
and  displeased  thee.  I  pray  thee,  0  God, 
to  forgive  me  for  Jesus  Christ  my  'Sa- 
viour's sake  ;  and  wilt  thou  keep  my  heart 
that  I  may  do  wrong  no  more.  Help  me, 
every  day,  to  try  to  please  thee  more  and 
more,  so  that  I  may  be  thy  dutiful  and 
obedient  child  while  I  live,  and  my  soul 
be  saved  when  I  die. 

And  now  wilt  thou  come  and  be  near 


BUNNY.  Ill 

my  bed-side  while  I  sleep,  keep  me  safe 
until  the  morning  ;  and  always,  whether  I 
wake  or  sleep,  whether  I  live  or  die,  wilt 
thou  be  with  me,  and  love  me,  and  take 
care  of  me,  forever,  for  Jesus'  sake. 

Amen. 

It  will  do  no  good  to  say  this  or  any 
other  prayer,  unless  you  say  it  seriously 
and  sincerely,  and  are  really  sorry  for 
having  done  wrong,  and  resolved  to  do  so 
no  more. 


BUNNY. 


A    FICTITIOUS    STORY. 


Once  there  was  a  beautiful  wood,  and 
in  it  many  large  trees.  In  one  of  these 
trees  was  a  large  hole  ;  the  bottom  of  the 
hole   was    covered   with   dry  leaves   and 


112  BUNNY. 

moss.  Here  lived  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Squirrel, 
with  their  five  children,  named  Creep, 
Peep,  Bushy,  Grey  and  Bunny.  They 
were  good  little  squirrels,  and  might  have 
been  a  very  happy  family,  had  not  Bunny 
been  discontented.  She  tried  to  make 
the  others  so  too.  She  would  very  often 
crowd  her  brothers  and  sisters,  and  fret 
because  she  had  not  room. 

One  day  their  father  and  mother  were 
away,  running  about  in  the  woods,  trying 
to  find  something  for  them  to  eat.  The 
little  squirrels  were  playing  together  very 
pleasantly,  till  Bunny  pushed  Creep  against 
Peep,  and  then  shoved  Bushy,  telling 
them  to  move,  for  she  had  not  room.  In 
truth,  Bunny  was  often  a  very  naughty 
squirrel,  and  made  her  father  and  mother 
very  unhappy.  Very  often  they  would 
lie  awake  at  night  thinking  how  they 
should  make  her  a  better  child,  and  kind 
and  pleasant  to  her  brothers  and  sisters. 


BUNNY.  113 

When  they  came  home,  the  day  I  have 
mentioned,  from  their  ramble  in  search  of 
something  to  eat,  they  saw  that  their  chil- 
dren looked  very  sober  and  unhappy,  and 
Creep,  who  was  the  oldest,  told  them  how 
Bunny  had  behaved.  Creep  was  a  very 
good  squirrel,  and  her  parents  could  al- 
ways believe  her.  She  never  tried  to 
make  her  brothers  and  sisters  seem  more 
naughty  than  they  were. 

That  night,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Squirrel 
talked  about  Bunny  before  they  went  to 
sleep,  and  concluded  they  must  put  a  stop 
to  her  naughty  behavior. 

The  next  morning,  Bunny's  father  got 
up  and  asked  her  to  go  and  walk  with 
him.  She  went,  and  they  walked  in  the 
beautiful  wood.  There  were  nuts,  and 
acorns,  and  berries,  and  Bunny  longed  to 
eat  as  many  as  she  wanted. 

Presently  her  father  told  her  how  very 
10* 


114  BUNNY. 

wrong  she  had  behaved,  and  that  he  must 
punish  her.  So  he  took  her  up  with  his 
fore  paw,  and  ran  up  a  tree.  The  tree 
was  very  tall,  and  it  was  a  good  while 
before  they  got  far  up.  Poor  little  Bunny 
was  very  much  frightened.  At  last  they 
came  to  a  small,  dark  hole,  just  large 
enough  for  her  to  turn  round  in.  Here 
her  father  put  her  in,  and  told  her  she 
must  stay  there.  Then  he  went  away, 
and  left  her  here  alone,  and  she  could  hear 
her  father's  feet  pat  along  the  tree  as  he 
went  down,  and  then  the  dry  leaves  on 
the  ground  rustle  as  he  ran  over  them. 

Dinner  time  came,  and  Bunny  hoped 
her  father  would  come  with  some  dinner. 
But  no,  — he  did  not  come.  She  began  to 
cry,  for  she  was  hungry.  She  felt  with 
her  paw  all  round,  and  could  only  find  one 
little  acorn  and  some  dried  leaves.  She 
looked  out  of  the  hole,  but  was  afraid  to 
go  out,  it  was  so  high  up. 


BUNNY.  115 

She  now  began  to  feel  very  sorry.  She 
knew  how  unkind  she  had  been  to  her 
brothers  and  sisters.  She  cried,  and 
thought  if  her  father  would  come  and 
take  her  home,  she  would  not  crowd  and 
push  and  fret  any  more. 

Supper  time  came,  but  she  could  not 
hear  any  one  coming. 

The  sun  set,  —  it  began  to  grow  dark, 
and  the  winds  blew  and  whistled  through 
the  trees.  At  last,  down  poured  the  rain, 
and  it  came  into  the  hole,  and  poor  little 
Bunny  was  completely  wet. 

Presently  she  thought  she  heard  a 
scratching  and  a  patting  on  the  leaves,  and 
then  upon  the  tree  ;  and  very  soon  up 
came  her  father.  He  saw  that  little  Bun- 
ny looked  sorry.  She  told  her  father  she 
would  try  and  be  a  good,  pleasant  squirrel 
if  he  would  take  her  home,  and  give  her 
some    supper.     So  he  took  her  up  with 


116  THE   RAFT. 

his  paw,  and  down  the  tree  they  went, 
and  soon  got  home  to  their  very  warm 
nest.  Here  was  a  fine  supper  of  sweet 
acorns  —  and  the  family  were  all  glad  to 
see  little  Bunny  again,  and  whenever  she 
began  to  be  naughty,  she  thought  of  the 
dark  hole  where  she  had  been  left  alone 
and  without  supper,  and  she  became  a 
very  good  little  squirrel,  and  was  ever 
afterwards  a  great  comfort  to  her  parents. 


THE  RAFT. 


Do  you  remember  any  thing  about 
Jonas  ; —  how  they  found  him  by  the  side 
of  the  road  and  brought  him  home  ?  When 
Hollo's  father  found  him,  he  meant  to  have 
sent  him  to  the  poor-house,  where  all 
poor  boys  are  taken  care  of,  but  he  kept 
him  in  his  house  a  few  days  first,  and  he 


THE  RAFT.  117 

found  that  he  was  a  very  good  boy.  He 
had  a  great  many  faults,  but  he  was  a  good- 
natured,  pleasant  boy,  and  he  was  willing 
to  learn,  and  so  Hollo's  father  thought  he 
would  let  him  stay  and  live  with  him,  and 
work  for  him. 

Jonas  was  very  industrious  and  faithful. 
Do  you  know  what  industrious  means  ? 
Do  you  know  what  faithful  means  ?  He 
was  kind  too.  He  was  very  kind  to  Hol- 
lo. He  used  to  help  Rollo  a  great  deal, 
and  play  with  him,  and  tell  him  stories. 

There  was  a  beautiful  brook  very  near 
the  house  which  Rollo  lived  in.  I  have 
made  you  a  picture  of  the  elm  yard,  be- 
hind the  house.  By  and  by,  I  shall  make 
you  a  picture  of  all  the  house,  and  the 
trees,  and  fields  around  it,  and  the  brook, 
and  then  you  will  understand  it  all  exact- 
ly. Now  I  can  only  tell  you  there  was  a 
brook,  and  Jonas  used  to  take  Rollo  down 


118  THE   RAFT. 

to  the  brook  sometimes  to  play.  The 
brook  was  wide,  and  the  water  flowed 
slowly  and  smoothly,  but  it  was  not  very 
deep.  Jonas  liked  to  be  near  the  water. 
He  had  sailed  over  the  seas,  and  he  liked 
the  water. 

One  day  Jonas  found  two  great  logs  on 
the  shore  of  the  brook.  He  rolled  them 
into  the  water.  Then  he  went  up  to  the 
house  and  got  some  pieces  of  board,  and 
a  hammer  and  some  nails.  He  gave  Rol- 
lo  the  hammer  and  nails  to  carry,  and  he 
carried  the  boards.  He  walked  back  then 
to  the  pond.  He  floated  the  logs  side  by 
side,  and  nailed  the  boards  across,  and 
then  he  stood  upon  it,  and  it  bore  him  up 
on  the  water.  Jonas  called  it  his  raft. 
Then  he  took  a  pole  and  pushed  himself 
off  from  the  shore  and  shouted, ' '  Hurrah, 
Hurrah." 

Hollo  stood  upon  the  shore  looking  at 


THE    RAFT.  121 

Mm,  and  Rollo  too  shouted,  "Hurrah, 
Hurrah.'.' 

Then  Rollo  said,  "  Let  me  get  on  and 
sail  too." 

"  No,"  said  Jonas,  "  not  till  I  ask  your 
mother  if  she  is  willing." 

That  day  when  they  went  home,  Rollo 
asked  his  father  and  mother  if  they  were 
willing  that  he  should  sail  on  Jonas's  raft. 
His  father  said  he  would  go  down  and 
look  at  it.  When  he  came  to  the  brook, 
he  was  surprised  to  see  such  a  good 
strong  raft,  and  he  said  that  Rollo  might 
sail  on  it,  if  they  would  both  be  careful. 
Then  Jonas  got  on  before,  and  pushed 
with  his  pole,  and  Rollo  sat  behind  and 
held  on,  and  they  sailed  away  up  towards 
the  bridge.  You  can  see  them  in  the 
picture.  You  can  see  the  raft,  and  Jonas 
pushing  with  a  pole,  and  Rollo  holding  on, 
and  the  brook,  and  the  bridge.  Rollo  and 
11 


122  CONTRARY   CHARLES. 

Jonas  had  a  great  many  good  sails  on  this 
raft. 


CONTRARY  CHARLES. 

Do  you  know  what  a  contrary  boy  is  ? 
I  will  tell  you.  He  is  one  who  is  never 
satisfied  with  what  he  has,  but  always 
wants  something  different.  If  I  were  to 
say  to  you,  "  Gome,  James,  and  see  what  a 
pretty  picture  I  have  got  here  ;  "  and  you 
should  say,  "  No,  I  don't  want  a  picture, 
you  said  you  would  bring  me  a  pretty 
book," — that  would  be  being  contrary.  If 
your  father  should  bring  you  home  a  little 
cart  to  draw  about  the  room,  and  you 
should  say,  "  I  don't  want  a  cart,  I  don't 
like  carts,  I  want  a  horse  and  whip,  like 
William's  ; '  that  would  be  being  very 
contrary. 


CONTRARY    CHARLES.  123 

Now  I  knew  a  little  boy  once,  who  was 
mhappy  a  great  deal  of  the  time,  because 
he  would  not  be  pleased  with  the  play- 
things he  had,  but  always  wanted  anothei 
kind,  or  something  else.  This  little  boy 
had  a  very  kind  father  and  mother,  who 
loved  him  very  much,  and  who  tried  to 
make  him  happy.  They  bought  him  good 
clothes  to  wear :  they  gave  him  good 
things  to  eat  whenever  he  was  hungry, 
and  they  bought  him  a  great  many  pretty 
playthings.  But  though  they  were  so 
kind,  this  boy  was  sometimes  so  naughty 
as  to  cry  when  they  gave  him  a  new 
plaything,  because  he  had  wanted  a  bunch 
of  jack-straws,  perhaps,  instead  of  a  pret- 
ty box  of  wooden  Mocks.  If  they  had 
bought  him  some  jack-straws,  he  would 
have  wanted  the  blocks  cr  something  else. 
Nobody  liked  to  give  Charie«  any  play- 
things or  sugar-plums  or  any   thing,  be- 


124  CONTRARY    CHARLES. 

cause  they  did  not  make  him  happy  :  and 
they  did  not  make  him  happy  because  he 
would  not  be  pleased,  but  always  thought 
of  something  else  which  he  fancied  he 
would  rather  have. 

One  day,  Charles'  mother  came  into 
the  room  where  he  was  playing,  and  said, 
"  Charles,  little  brother  William  is  going 
to  walk  with  Susan.  Should  you  like  to 
go  too?  " 

"Yes,"  said  he,  "but  I  shall  want  to 
wear  my  new  cap."  , 

"But  I  told  you  the  other  day,"  said 
his  mother,  ' '  that  you  could  not  wear  it 
for  a  whole  week  again,  because  you 
threw  it  upon  the  floor  when  you  came  in 
yesterday,  instead  of  hanging  it  on  the 
nail." 

"Then  I  don't  want  to  go,"  said  Charles. 

"  Very  well,"  said  his  mother,  and  call- 
ing to  Susan,  she  told  her  she  need  not 
wait  any  longer. 


CONTRARY    CHARLES.  125 

'•  But  I  shall  want  to  go,"  said  Charles, 
beginning  to  cry. 

"  You  must  not  go  now,"  said  his  mo- 
ther, "  for  }^ou  said  you  did  not  want  to 
go,  just  because  you  felt  contrary,  and 
out  of  humor." 

His  mother  then  sat  down  to  work. 
Charles,  finding  it  was  useless  to  cry, 
dried  his  tears,  and  began  throwing  his 
playthings  about  the  room. 

"Don't  you  do  so,"  said  his  mother, 
"  you  will  break  that  pretty  box,  and  your 
white  cards,  with  the  pretty  colored  let- 
ters, will  get  soiled,  and  not  fit  to  be 
used." 

"I  don't  care  if  they  do,"  said  Charles, 
"  it  is  not  a  pretty  box,  and  I  don't  like 
the  cards." 

His  mother  rose,  took  away  all  his 
playthings,  and  left  him  sitting  upon  the 
floor,  with  nothing  to  do.  As  she  took 
11* 


126  CONTRARY   CHARLES. 

no  notice  of  his  cross  looks,  he  presently 
went  to  the  window,  and  stood  on  a  little 
cricket,  looking  to  see  the  horses  and 
carriages  passing,  and  soon  he  began  to 
feel  pleasantly  again. 

"  Oh  !  mother,"  said  he,  "  there  are  two 
beautiful  little  dogs  in  the  street,  and  a 
little  boy  running  after  them.  Oh  !  how 
I  should  like  a  little  dog.  Mother,  will 
you  buy  me  one  ?  "  and  he  ran  to  his 
mother  and  looked  up  in  her  face. 

His  mother  laid  down  her  work,  and 
took  him  in  her  lap.  "  What  would  you 
do  with  a  dog,"  said  she,  "if  you  had 
one  ?  " 

"  Oh  !  I  should  play  with  him  ;  I  would 
put  some  things  in  my  cart,  and  tie  the 
dog  to  it,  and  let  him  draw  it  to  market ; 
just  like  the  dog  in  William's  picture." 

"But  I  am  afraid,"  said  his  mother, 
"  that  if  your  father  should  buy  you  a  dog 


CONTRARY   CHARLES.  127 

you  would  sometimes  get  out  of  humor 
with  him,  and  then  you  would  say  it  was 
an  ugly  dog,  and  you  did  not  want  it  any 
more." 

"No,  I  would  not,"  said  Charles;  "I 
should  always  love  my  little  dog." 

"  So  you  said,  if  I  would  buy  you  a  new 
cap,  you  would  be  a  good  boy,  and  never 
give  me  any  trouble  about  it ;  but  yester- 
day you  forgot  your  promise,  and  did  not 
put  it  where  it  belongs  ;  and  to-day  you 
have  made  me  very  unhappy  by  your  bad 
temper.  And  you  have  displeased  Grod 
too,  for  he  was  looking  directly  into  your 
heart  when  you  said  you  did  not  want  to 
go  with  Susan,  and  saw  that  you  were 
saying  what  was  not  true." 

"  But  I  will  remember  next  time,  if  you 
will  only  get  me  a  little  dog." 

Just  then  William  came  into  the  room 
with  a  large  piece  of  cake  in  his  hand, 


128  CONTRARY   CHARLES. 

which  a  lady  had  given  him.  He  went 
up  to  his  brother,  and  breaking  it  in  two 
pieces  offered  him  one  of  them. 

"No,  I  want  the  other  piece,"  said 
Charles. 

"  But  I  can't  give  it  to  you,"  said  Wil- 
liam ;   "I  want  it  myself." 

"  Then  I  won't  have  any,"  said  Charles, 
impatiently. 

"  Keep  all  the  cake  yourself,  "William," 
said  his  mother  ;  ' '  Charles  must  not  have 
any,  because  he  is  not  a  good  boy." 

"  But  I  do  want  some,"  said  Charles, 
beginning  to  cry  very  loud.  Then  his 
mother  went  to  the  door,  and  calling 
Susan,  told  her  to  take  Charles  into  the 
other  room,  and  keep  him  there  until  he 
was  perfectly  pleasant  and  good-humored. 
So  you  see  Charles  lost  a  pleasant  walk, 
and  a  nice  piece  of  cake  ;  and,  after  all, 
had  to  be  sent  away  from  his  kind  mother 


CONTRARY    CHARLES.  129 

just  because  lie  would  be  a  contrary  boy. 
Do  you  think  he  was  happy  ? 

The  next  afternoon,  as  these  two  little 
boys  were  playing  in  the  yard,  they  looked 
up,  and  saw  a  carriage,  drawn  by  two 
large,  white  horses,  stop  at  the  door.  It 
was  their  aunt's.  She  had  brought  her 
little  son  and  daughter,  named  James  and 
Mary,  to  spend  the  afternoon  with  their 
cousins.  As  soon  as  they  were  out  of  the 
carriage,  they  ran  to  their  cousins,  and 
all  looked  as  happy  as  if  they  were  ex- 
pecting to  have  a  noble,  good  time  ;  and 
so  they  were. 

Their  aunt  went  into  the  house,  and 
the  children  played  together  out  in  the 
yard.  When  they  were  tired  of  that,  they 
went  into  the  mowing  field,  where  the  hay 
was  spread  to  dry,  and  began  to  throw  it 
upon  each  other.  This  they  enjoyed  very 
much  till  Charles  began  to  cry,  and  say 


130  CONTRARY    CHARLES. 

they  should  not  throw  the  hay  upon  him. 
He  wanted  to  pelt  the  others,  but  was  not 
willing  to  have  them  pelt  him.  So  this 
contrary  boy  spoilt  the  whole  play,  and 
he  cried  so  loud  that  his  mother  had  to 
call  him  into  the  house.  When  he  was 
gone,  James  lay  down  in  the  hay,  and 
told  his  sister  and  cousin  to  cover  him  up 
in  it.  When  he  was  hidden  entirely,  so 
that  they  could  not  see  him,  he  jumped 
up  suddenly,  and  ran  to  catch  them  with 
an  arm  full  of  hay,  to  pay  them  for  treat- 
ing him  so.  They  laughed  very  loud, 
and  were  very  happy,  now  they  had  no 
one  to  disturb  them  with  crying.  They 
were  soon  called  in  to  tea. 

Charles  had  not  been  very  well  in  the 
morning,  and  his  mother  was  afraid  to  give 
him  as  many  strawberries  in  his  milk  as 
she  did  the  rest.  So  Charles  began  to 
cry,  and  said  he  would  not  have  any.  His 


CONTRARY   CHARLES.  131 

mother  then  sent  him  out  of  the  room, 
and  did  not  allow  him  to  return  until  his 
cousins  had  gone. 

You  see  how  many  pleasant  things  he 
lost  by  being  so  contrary.  His  mother 
said  she  could  not  buy  him  a  dog  until  he 
had  learned  to  be  a  good,  pleasant  boy. 
His  cousins  said  they  did  not  want  to  go 
and  see  him  again,  for  he  spoiled  their 
play ;  and  when  his  mother  went  to  see 
his  aunt,  she  took  William,  but  left  Charles 
at  home.  She  said  she  could  not  take 
him  with  her  until  he  was  willing  to  do 
as  others  wished  to  have  him,  and  not 
always  cry  to  have  his  own  way.  By 
and  by,  Charles  learned  that  it  was  better 
to  be  pleasant  all  the  time,  and  not  get 
out  of  humor  when  things  did  not  exactly 
suit  him  ;  and  then  every  body  loved  him, 
for  he  was  a  good  little  boy  in  every 
other  respect. 


132 

FKOST  ON  THE  WINDOWS. 

Chaeles  was  a  little  boy.  One  cold 
winter's  morning  his  mother  brought  him 
down  stairs.  It  was  very  early.  She  put 
him  down  on  the  carpet,  before  a  bright, 
warm  fire.  Then  she  opened  the  shut- 
ters to  see  if  it  was  light.  Charles  saw 
something  white  and  shining  upon  the 
windows,  and  called  to  her,  and  said,  "  Oh, 
mother,  mother,  how  beautiful !  See  how 
the  windows  are  painted  all  white.  ■  There 
is  a  mountain,  and  another,  —  and  —  and 
I  see  another  on  the  top  of  it ;  and  there 
are  some  trees,  and  flowers  —  and  —  ' ' 

"  Yes,  they  are  very  beautiful,"  said 
Charles'  mamma,  as  she  stood  dressing 
her  little  boy. 

"What  makes  it  look  so?  It  isn't 
light  like  day,  —  and  oh !  mother,  see, 
there  is  a  bright  star  in  the  sky  !  " 


FROST   ON   THE   WINDOWS.  133 

"It  is  not  quite  daylight  yet ;  pretty 
soon  it  will  grow  lighter,  and  the  little  star 
will  not  look  so  bright,  and  then  the  skv 
will  grow  brighter,  and  it  will  be  daylight." 

"  What  is  it  now  ;  is  it  night  ?  " 

"  No,  it  is  day-dawn." 

"  Day-dawn  ;  — well,  it's  very  pretty,  I 
think,  mother.  0,  see,  there's  a  cow  !  I 
think  those  are  pictures  painted  on  the 
window,  aren't  they  ?  " 

"  No,  they  are  not  pictures.  Don't  you 
know  what  they  are?  " 

"  I  see  something  that  looks  like  a 
horse  that  hasn't  got  any  head,  and  some 
trees  that  haven't  got  any  branches,  and 
a  great  many  more  mountains  and  rocks. 
I  think  they  are  pictures,  but  they  look 
white,  just  like  snow." 

"  Well,  Charles,  the  cold  made  those 
pictures.  We  call  it  frost  on  the  windows, 
and  it  came  last  night  while  we  were  all 
12 


134  FROST  ON   THE   WINDOWS. 

asleep.  It  was  very  cold  indeed  last 
night,  and  a  great  many  things  froze  very 
hard.     Now  hark,  what  do  you  hear?  " 

' '  Hark !  I  hear  something  that  ticks 
just  like  a  watch.     What  is  it  ?  " 

"It  is  the  cold  frost  which  has  frozen 
some  water  in  the  tumbler.  Last  night 
it  was  water,  and  I  drank  some  of  it. 
Now  look  here  ;  it  is  ice,  and  it  looks  very 
beautiful.  See  all  those  little  marks  and 
spots.  Those  are  little  bubbles.  Now  it 
goes  click,  click,  again.  See  how,  hard  it 
is ;   I  cannot  break  it  with  my  finger." 

"Mother,  will  the  frost  stay  all  day  on 
the  windows,  or  go  away  when  it  is  day- 
light?" 

"  Not  when  it  is  daylight,  but  when  the 
room  is  warm.  There  is  a  good,  bright 
fire  in  the  grate,  and  it  will  make  the  room 
warm,  and  by  and  by  the  sun  will  rise  out 
ol  doors  and  shine  on  the  glass,  and  warm 


SHOOTING   A   BEAR.  135 

it,  and  the  frost  will  melt.     Then  it  will 
be  water  and  run  down  in  drops." 

"  Well,  I  think  it  is  very  pretty  frost, 
and  I  don't  think  I  could  make  such 
horses,  and  trees,  and  cows." 


SHOOTING  A  BEAK 

Once  there  was  a  foolish  man,  who 
was  always  afraid  of  bears.  He  was  al- 
ways afraid  there  were  bears  in  the  woods 
around  him,  and  that  they  would  come 
and  eat  him  up. 

One  day  he  thought  he  would  take  his 
gun  and  go  out  and  shoot  a  bear.  So  he 
took  down  his  gun,  and  put  in  some  pow- 
der to  load  it,  and  then  he  put  in  some 
paper  to  keep  the  powder  in,  and  then  he 
put  in  a  bullet  over  that.  The  bullet  was 
a  round,  heavy  thing,  like  a  round  stone. 


136  SHOOTING   A    BEAR. 

He  put  another  piece  of  paper  in  next,  to 
keep  the  bullet  down.  How  do  you  sup- 
pose he  got  the  paper  down  to  the  bot- 
tom of  his  gun?  Why,  he  had  a  long, 
slender  iron,  which  he  called  his  ramrod, 
and  he  pushed  the  paper  down  with  his 
long,  slender  ramrod.  Then  he  pulled 
the  ramrod  out,  and  slid  it  into  its  proper 
place  by  the  side  of  his  gun. 

Did  you  ever  see  any  gunpowder? 
When  you  set  it  on  fire,  it  flashes  up  very 
quick.  There  is  a  picture  of  some  boys 
burning  gunpowder  in  E-ollo  Learning  to 
Talk.  If  the  gunpowder  is  in  a  close 
place  when  it  is  set  on  fire,  it  bursts  out 
violently,  and  makes  a  noise.  This  man's 
gun  was  a  close  place,  and  he  expected 
that  when  he  should  see  the  bear,  he 
should  point  his  gun  at  the  bear,  and  then 
set  fire  to  the  powder  down  in  the  bottom 
of  his  gun,  and  that  the  powder  would 


SHOOTING   A    BEAR.  137 

flash  and  burst  out,  and  drive  out  the 
round,  heavy  bullet,  and  make  it  whiz 
through  the  air  very  swiftly,  and  go  into 
the  bear  and  kill  him. 

But  how  do  you  think  he  was  going  to 
set  fire  to  the  powder  which  was  away 
down  in  the  bottom  of  his  gun,  under  the 
paper  and  the  bullet  ?  I  will  tell  you  how. 
There  was  a  little  hole,  a  very  little  one, 
in  the  side  of  his  gun,  opposite  where  the 
powder  was,  and  he  put  a  little  powder 
into  that  hole.  The  name  of  the  hole  is 
the  touch-hole.  Close  by  that  hole  there 
were  some  things  fixed  which  would  strike 
together  and  make  sparks.  They  would 
strike  together  when  he  pulled  a  little 
thing.  The  little  thing  he  pulled  was  the 
trigger.  So  that  when  he  should  be  all 
ready,  and  should  have  the  gun  pointing 
at  the  bear,  he  would  only  pull  the  trig- 
ger, and  that  would  make  the  flint  and 
12* 


138  SHOOTING  A   BEAR. 

steel  strike  together,  and  that  would  make 
sparks  which  would  fall  upon  the  powder 
in  the  little  touch-hole,  and  it  would  burn 
in,  quick,  with  a  flash,  and  set  the  powder 
in  the  gun  on  fire,  and  that  would  drive 
the  bullet  out,  and  make  it  whiz  through 
the  air  and  kill  the  bear.  That  is  the 
way  the  man  expected  to  shoot.  That  is 
the  way  they  always  shoot. 

Just  before  he  was  ready  to  shoot,  he 
always  had  to  pull  back  the  flint,  so  as  to 
get  the  flint  and  the  trigger  in  the  right 
place,  and -when  he  did  this  it  would  say 
click.  This  would  be  cocking  his  gun. 
Then  it  would  be  ready  to  fire. 

When  the  gun  was  all  ready  excepting 
being  cocked,  the  man  put  it  on  his 
shoulder,  and  went  off  into  the  woods. 
He  looked  all  about  him,  but  for  a  long 
time  he  could  not  see  any  bear.  At  last 
he  saw  a  strange  looking  thing  up  in  a 
tree,  among  the  leaves. 


SHOOTING   A    BEAR.  139 

"  I  wonder,"  said  he,  "if  that  is  not  a 
bear." 

It  looked  rather  strangely,  and  he  could 
not  tell  what  it  was  if  it  was  not  a  bear. 
So  he  thought  he  might  as  well  shoot  it. 
He  accordingly  took  down  his  gun  from 
his  shoulder,  and  pulled  back  the  flint,  and 
heard  it  say  click.  Then  he  pointed  the 
gun  up  towards  the  strange  looking  thing 
in  the  tree,  and  he  pulled  the  trigger. 
Crackle  went  the  sparks,  Jlash  went  the 
powder  in  the  touch-hole,  pop  went  the 
gun,  whiz  went  the  bullet  through  the 
air,  and  the  man  looked,  expecting  to  see 
the  bear  fall  down  dead  from  the  tree. 

Instead  of  that  he  could  see,  when  the 
smoke  cleared  away  a  little,  that  the 
strange  loooking  thing  appeared  exactly 
as  it  did  before.  He  went  round  a  little 
to  see  it  better,  and  what  do  you  think  it 
was  ?  Why,  it  was  only  a  crooked  branch 
of  the  tree. 


140  SHOOTING  A   BEAE. 

"  Ah,"  said  he,  "I  made  a  mistake.  I 
ought  to  have  waited  until  I  saw  whether 
it  moved.  Bears  move.  Next  time  I 
will  not  fire  at  any  thing  unless  it  moves." 

So  he  went  along  a  little  farther,  look- 
ing around  on  all  the  trees.  At  last  he 
saw  something  upon  a  tree,  moving ;  he 
thought  that  must  be  a  bear.  So  he  took 
his  gun  down  quick  off*  of  his  shoulder, 
and  he  pulled  back  the  flint,  and  it  said 
click,  and  he  pointed  the  gun  up  into  the 
tree,  and  then  he  pulled  the  trigger. 
Crackle  went  the  sparks,  flash  went  the 
powder  in  the  little  touch-hole,  pop  went 
the  gun,  whiz  went  the  bullet  through 
the  air,  puff  went  the  smoke,  and  the 
man  looked,  expecting  to  see  the  bear 
fall  down  dead  from  the  tree. 

Instead  of  that,  what  do  you  think  he 
saw  ?  Why,  it  was  nothing  but  a  little 
squirrel,  with  a  long,  bushy  tail,  running 


SHOOTING    A    BEAE.  141 

away  on  a  limb  of  the  tree,  as  fast  as  lie 
could  go.  What  the  man  saw  moving 
was  only  the  tip  of  his  tail ;  the  rest  of 
him  was  round  behind  the  tree,  and  he 
thought  it  was  a  bear  round  there. 

"  Ah,"  said  the  man,  "  I  made  another 
little  mistake.  Bears  are  black.  This 
squirrel's  tail  is  gray.  I  must  not  fire  at 
any  thing  again  unless  it  is  black." 

So  he  walked  along,  looking  about  him 
carefully,  and  up  into  all  the  trees.  By 
and  by  he  saw  something  moving.  He 
looked  up  and  saw  that  it  was  black.  It 
was  the  little  tip  of  a  black  thing ;  he 
could  only  see  a  little  of  it.  The  rest  was 
round  behind  the  tree. 

"  Now,"  says  the  man,  "  I  know  I  have 
found  a  bear ;  for  it  is  black,  and  bears 
are  black." 

So  he  loaded  his  gun,  and  got  it  all 
ready.      Click,    said    the    lock    when    he 


142  SHOOTING   A   BEAR. 

cocked  it.  He  pointed  up  towards  the 
tree.  In  a  minute  he  pulled  the  trigger, 
— flash  went  the  powder  in  the  touch- 
hole,  pop  went  the  gun,  whiz  went  the 
bullet  through  the  air,  and  the  man 
looked,  expecting  to  see  the  bear  fall 
down  dead  from  the  tree. 

Instead  •  of  that,  what  do  you  think  he 
saw  ?  Why,  it  was  only  a  little  black- 
bird, flying  off  through  the  branches  as 
fast  as  he  could  go.  The  black  thing 
which  the  man  saw  moving  was  only  the 
blackbird's  tail,  projecting  out  from  be- 
hind the  tree,  and  he  thought  it  was  a 
black  bear  round  there. 

"Ah,"  said  the  man,  "I  made  a  mis- 
take again.  Bears  are  large,  as  well  as 
black.  This  was  very  little.  I  must  not 
fire  at  any  thing  again  unless  it  is  large 
as  well  as  black." 

So  he  walked  along,  looking  about  him 


SHOOTING   A   BEAE.  143 

carefully,  and  up  into  all  the  trees.  By 
and  by  he  saw  something  very  strange. 
It  was  a  little  way  up  a  tree,  clinging  to  a 
branch.  It  was  partly  hid  by  the  leaves, 
so  that  he  could  not  see  it  very  well,  but 
he  knew  that  it  was  black,  and  it  was 
large,  and  it  was  moving. 

"Now,"  says  the  man,  "I  am  certain 
I  have  found  a  bear,  for  it  is  large  and 
black,  and  bears  are  large  and  black. 
Besides,  it  moves." 

So  he  loaded  his  gun,  and  rammed 
down  the  bullet  with  his  ramrod,  and 
pulled  back  the  flint.  It  said  click.  Then 
he  knew  that  all  was  ready.  He  was 
sure  of  his  bear  this  time,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  drag  him  home  by  the  ears. 

He  pointed  his  gun  up  at  the  large, 
black  thing,  and  pulled  the  trigger. 
Flash  went  the  powder  in  the  touch-hole, 
pop  went  the  gun,  whiz  went  the  bullet 


144  SHOOTING    A    BEAR. 

through  the  air,  and  the  man  looked, 
expecting  to  see  the  bear  fall  down  dead 
from  the  tree. 

Instead  of  that,  a  man  came  rushing 
out  of  the  bushes,  calling  out, 

"  Halloa-  there,  —  what  are  you  shoot- 
ing my  coat  for  ?  ' ' 

The  man  was  at  first  so  astonished 
that  he  could  hardly  speak.  Presently 
he  said, 

"  Who  are  you,  sir  ?  " 

"I  am  a  wood-cutter.  I  came  out 
here  to  cut  wood,  and  I  hung  my  coat  on 
the  tree ;  now  you  have  shot  a  hole 
through  it !  !  " 

"  Is  that  your  coat  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  I  thought  it  was  a  bear." 

"  A  bear  ! !  "  said  the  wood-cutter  with 
astonishment. 

"Yes,  I  thought  there  were  bears  in 


WHAT  ARE  TOU  SHOOTING  MY  COAT  FOlw— Pa„.  144. 


JACK   HILDIGO.  145 

the  woods,  and  that  they  would  come  out 
and  eat  me  up  ;  so  I  came  to  shoot  one." 
"  You  silly  man,"  said  the  wood-cutter. 
"  There  are  no  bears  in  the  woods  near 
such  towns  as  we  live  in.  Besides,  if 
there  were,  they  never  would  come  out 
of  the  woods  and  eat  people  up.  Nobody 
is  afraid  of  bears  but  silly  little  children." 


JACK  HILDIGO. 


Jonas  used  to  sit  down  with  Rollo  very 
often  and  amuse  him  by  telling  him  sto- 
ries. The  story  which  Rollo  liked  the 
best  was  the  story  of  Jack  Hildigo.  The 
story  of  Jack  Hildigo  was  a  very  curious 
one.  The  reason  why  I  put  it  in  this 
book  is  because  it  is  very  hard  to  read 
right,  and  you  must  read  it  aloud  and  dis- 
tinctly, till  you  learn  to  read  it  well. 
13 


146  JACK    HILDIGO. 

When  Jonas  told  this  story,  they  called 
it  playing  Jack  Hildigo.  It  took  several 
children  to  play  it  well.  Sometimes  when 
John  and  Samuel,  who  lived  in  another 
house,  came  over  to  play  with  Hollo,  they 
would  all  sit  down  together,  on  the  plat- 
form, in  the  garden-yard,  and  have  a  fine 
time  playing  Jack  Hildigo. 

Jonas  would  begin  telling  the  story 
thus,  the  other  children  sitting  all  around 
him  :  — 

"  Once  there  was  a  boy,  and  his  name 
was  Jack  Hildigo.  One  day  he  went 
round  behind  his  father's  house,  and  found 
there  a  great  hole  leading  under  the  house. 
So  he  thought  he  would  go  into  that 
hole,  and  see  what  was  there.  He  went 
in  under  the  house,  but  he  found  nothing. 
So  he  stood  there,  and  began  to  growl 
like  a  bear,  so,  — 

"  U-r-r,  u-r-r,  u-r-r." 


JACK   HILDIGO.  147 

Here  Jonas,  who  was  telling  the  story, 
said,  U-r-r,  u-r-r,  u-r-r,  growling  as  much 
as  he  could  like  a  bear. 

"  Presently  there  came  along  a  large  tur- 
key, saying,  Gobble-gobble-gobble.  And 
the  turkey  said,  '  I  wonder  what  there  is 
in  that  great,  black  hole.'  And  the  turkey 
said,  '  Hark  !  I  hear  a  strange  noise  in 
that  great,  black  hole,  something  growling 
like  a  bear.  I  wonder  what  that  is  that 
is  growling  like  a  bear.' 

"  So  the  turkey  walked  along  and 
looked  in,  and  he  said,  '  Oh,  it  is  nothing 
but  Jack  Hildigo.  I  am  not  afraid  of 
Jack  Hildigo.  I  will  go  in  and  gobble, 
while  he  growls  like  a  bear.' 

"So  the  turkey  went  in  and  stood  by 
the  side  of  Jack  Hildigo ;  and  the  turkey 
said,  Gobble-gobble-gobble,  and  Jack  Hil- 
digo growled  like  a  bear,  so." 


148  JACK   HILDIGO. 

Jonas  would  say,  U-r-r,  u-r-r,  u-r-r, 
growling  like  a  bear,  and  Rollo  would 
say,  Grobble-gobble-gobble,  gobble-gob- 
ble-gobble, gobble-gobble-gobble,  three 
times,  and  no  more.  This  would  make 
Rollo  laugh.  Then  Jonas  went  on  with 
the  story. 

"  By  and  by  there  came  along  a  duck, 
a  waddling,  quacking  duck.  And  the 
duck  said,  '  I  wonder  what  there  is  in 
that  great,  black  hole.'  And  the  duck 
said,  '  Hark !  I  hear  a  strange  noise  in 
that  great,  black  hole,  something  growling 
like  a  bear.  I  wonder  what  that  is  that 
is  growling  like  a  bear.' 

"So  the  duck  walked  along  and  looked 
in,  and  he  said,  '  Oh,  it  is  nothing  but 
Jack  Hildigo  and  a  turkey.  I  am  not 
afraid  of  Jack  Hildigo.'  So  the  duck 
went  in  and  stood   by  the  turkey,  and 


JACK    HILDIGO.  149 

said,  Quack -quack-quack,  and  the  turkey 
said,  Gobble-gobble-gobble,  and  Jack  Hil- 
digo  growled  like  a  bear,  so." 

Here  Jonas  would  say,  U-r-r,  u-r-r, 
u-r-r,  and  Hollo  would  say,  Gobble-gob- 
ble-gobble, gobble-gobble-gobble,  gobble- 
gobble-gobble,  and  John  would  say,  Quack- 
quack-quack,  quack-quack-quack,  quack- 
quack-quack,  all  together,  three  times, 
and  no  more.  Here  Jonas  would  go  on 
with  the  story. 

"  By  and  by  there  came  along  a  dog, 
a  large  dog,  a  large,  black  dog,  with  a  bone 
in  his  mouth.  And  the  dog  said,  '  I  won- 
der what  there  is  in  that  great,  black  hole.' 
And  when  he  came  nearer  he  heard  a 
noise.  And  he  said,  '  Hark  !  what  noise 
is  that  ?  It  is  something  growling  like  a 
bear.'  So  he  walked  along  carefully,  but 
13* 


150  JACK   HILDIGO. 

when  he  got  near  the  hole,  he  said,  '  Oh, 
it  is  only  Jack  Hildigo  and  a  turkey  and 
a  duck  !  I  am  not  afraid  of  Jack  Hildigo, 
or  the  turkey,  or  the  duck.  I  will  go  in 
and  bow- wow- wow.'  So  he  went  in  and 
stood  by  the  side  of  the  duck.  And  the 
dog  said,  Bow-wow-wow,  and  the  duck 
said,  Quack-quack-quack,  and  the  turkey 
said,  Grobble-gobble-gobble,  and  Jack 
Hildigo  growled  like  a  bear,  so." 

Here  Jonas  would  say,  U-r-r,  u-r-r, 
u-r-r,  growling  like  a  bear,  and  Rollo 
would  say,  Gobble-gobble-gobble,  gobble- 
gobble-gobble,  gobble-gobble-gobble,  and 
John  would  say,  Quack-quack-quack, 
quack-quack-quack,  quack-quack-quack, 
and  Samuel  would  say,  Bow-wow-wow, 
bow-wow- wow,  bow- wow- wow,  three 
times,  and  no  more.  This  would  make 
them  all  laugh,  and  then  Jonas  v-ould  go 
on  with  the  story. 


JACK   HILDIGO.  151 

"  In  the  yard  of  that  house  was  a  pig. 
He  was  lying  down  with  his  nose  in  the 
mud.  And  after  lying  there  some  time, 
he  thought  he  would  get  up  and  take  a 
walk. 

"So  he  walked  along  till  he  came 
round  behind  the  house,  and  he  saw  a 
great  hole  in  the  wall.  And  he  said,  '  I 
wonder  what  there  is  in  that  great,  black 
hole.'  And  when  he  came  nearer,  he 
heard  a  noise,  and  he  said,  '  Hark  !  what 
noise  is  that?  It  is  something  growling 
like  a  bear.'  So  he  walked  along  care- 
fully, but  when  he  got  ^ear  the  hole,  he 
said,  '  Oh,  it  is  only  Jack  Hildigo.  I  am 
not  afraid  of  Jack  Hildigo.  I  will  go  in 
and  grunt,  while  he  growls  )i\e  a  bear.'  ' 

When  Jonas  got  as  far  as  this.  ta  telling 
the  story  one  day,  he  stopped,  and  s^id  he 
could  not  go  any  farther,  for  there  war  no- 


152  HOW   TO   TREAT   A   KITTEN. 

body  to  play  pig.  But  he  said  if  he  could 
only  get  four  or  five  more  boys  some 
time,  he  could  tell  a  good  deal  further,  and 
they  should  have  a  great  deal  more  fun. 

This  is  the  end  of  the  story  about  Jack 
Hildieo. 


HOW  TO  TEEAT  A  KITTEN. 

Theee  was  once  a  boy  named  James, 
and  one  day  his  father  came  home  and 
said,  "  James,  I  have  got  something  for 
you." 

"  What  is  it,  father?  "  said  James. 

"  Oh,  I  will  show  it  to  you  presently," 
said  his  father. 

"  Where  is  it?  "  said  James. 

"  It  is  in  a  little  basket,  which  I  left 
out  in  the  other  room." 

So  when  James'  father  had  put  away 


HOW    TO    TREAT    A    KITTEN.  153 

his  hat  and  whip,  he  went  out  into  the 
other  room,  and  presently  came  in  bring- 
ing a  basket  in  his  hands,  which  he  was 
holding  carefully  by  the  handle. 

"Oh,  let  me  see,  let  me  see,"  said 
James ;  and  he  came  up  to  his  father,  and 
began  to  pull  down  the  basket. 

This  was  wrong,  for  children  ought 
never  to  attempt  to  pull  any  thing  away 
from  their  father.  It  was  foolish  too,  as 
well  as  wrong,  for  James  could  not  suc- 
ceed in  pulling  it  away.  The  more  he 
pulled,  the  higher  his  father  held  up  the 
basket,  until  at  last  his  father  told  him  to 
let  go.     He  obeyed. 

Then  his  father  held  the  basket  down 
low.  He  put  it  in  a  chair,  and  James 
stood  by  the  side  of  it.  He  saw  that 
there  was  a  cloth  spread  over  the  top 
of  it,  and  tied  round  the  basket.  James' 
father  untied  the  string,  and  unwound  it, 


154  HOW    TO   TREAT   A   KITTEN. 

and  then  carefully  lifted  up  the  cloth,  and 
James  looked  in  and  saw  there  a  beauti- 
ful gray  kitten. 

The  kitten  appeared  afraid;  she  curled 
down  into  a  corner  of  the  basket,  and 
looked  up  as  if  she  was  frightened. 

"Oh,  father,"  said  James,  "-let  me 
take  her  out." 

"Well,"  said  his  father,  "but  do  it 
carefully." 

So  James  put  his  hands  in  to  take  irp 
the  kitten  ;  but  when  she  saw  them  com- 
ing, it  frightened  her  more,  and  she 
jumped  up  to  the  top  of  the  basket,  and 
then  leaped  out  upon  the  chair,  and  from 
the  chair  to  the  floor.  She  ran  along  the 
floor.  At  the  same  instant,  James  ran 
after  her,  holding  out  his  hands,  saying, 
"  Oh,  catch  her,  catch  her."  His  father 
only  turned  round  quietly,  and  shut  the 
door.       He  was  much  wiser  than  James, 


HOW   TO   TREAT   A    KITTEN.  155 

for  James'  bustle  and  noise  only  made 
the  kitten  more  frightened,  while  his  fa- 
ther quietly"  did  what  would  effectually 
keep  the  kitten  from  running  away. 

"  Now,  James,"  said  his  father,  "  let  the 
kitten  stay  there  under  the  table  a  minute 
or  two,  while  I  tell  you  something.  You 
see  how  frightened  she  looks.  She  is 
afraid  you  will  hurt  her.  Now,  if  you 
treat  her  very  gently  and  kindly  for  a  few 
days,  and  do  not  try  to  catch  her  at  first, 
she  will  soon  find  out  that  you  are  her 
friend,  and  she  will  not  be  afraid  of  you. 
She  will  let  you  take  her,  and  play  with 
her  as  much  as  you  please.  But  if  you 
handle  her  roughly,  or  tease  her  in  any 
way,  she  will  be  always  wild." 

Then  James'  father  went  away. 

James  stood  a  minute  or  two  looking 
at  his  kitten,  and  then  he  thought  he 
would  go  and  catch  her.     So  he  walked 


156  HOW   TO    TREAT   A    KITTEN. 

along  towards  the  table,  and  then  stooped 
down  to  take  up  the  kitten,  but  she  sud- 
denly turned  round,  and  ran  under  the 
chairs,  and  hid  behind  a  basket,  in  one 
corner  of  the  room. 

James  ran  after  her.  He  pulled  away 
the  basket,  and  saw  the  kitten  for  an  in- 
stant crouching  in  a  corner  of  the  room, 
staring  wildly  at  him,  and  evidently  very 
much  terrified.  The  moment  she  found 
that  the  basket  was  taken  away,  and  that 
she  was  exposed  again,  she  started  off, 
ran  directly  across  the  room,  towards  a 
large  clock  which  was  in  the  opposite 
corner,  and  squeezed  under  it. 

James  now  did  not  know  what  to  do. 
He  could  not  move  the  great,  heavy  clock. 
He  put  his  face  close  down  to  the  floor, 
and  looked  under,  and  he  could  just  see 
the  kitten's  two  shining  eyes  there,  but 
he  could  not  reach  in,  to  take  her. 


HOW    TO  TREAT    A    KITTEN.  157 

"  Ah,"  said  he  at  last,  "  I  know  what  I 
can  do.  I  can  go  and  get  father's  cane, 
and  then  I  can  poke  her  out."  So  he 
went  out  into  the  entry  and  got  the  cane, 
and  came  back,  and  began  to  thrust  it  un- 
der, and  behind  the  clock.  The  poor  kit- 
ten was  much  more  frightened  to  hear 
this  thumping  around  her,  and  to  feel  the 
great  stick  punching  her  sides  ;  so  pres- 
ently she  darted  out,  ran  across  the  room, 
and  out  through  the  door  which  James 
had  left  open. 

James  followed  her,  brandishing*  his 
cane.  When  he  got  to  the  entry,  he 
found  that  the  kitten  was  half  way  up 
stairs.  He  immediately  began  to  go  up 
as  fast  as  he  could,  but  she  could  go 
faster.  She  leaped  up  from  step  to  step, 
then  ran  along  the  passage  way  at  the  top 

*  Brandishing   it  means   holding  it  up  as  if  he  were 
going  to  strike  her. 

14 


158  HOW   TO   TREAT   A    KITTEN. 

until  she  reached  the  door  leading  to  the 
garret,  which  James  saw,  to  his  chagrin, 
was  open  a  very  little. 

Do  you  know  what  chagrin  means  ?  It 
means  the  feeling  James  had  when  he  saw 
that  the  garret  door  was  open.  What 
sort  of  a  feeling  do  you  think  that  was  ? 

The  kitten  squeezed  through  the  open- 
ing of  the  garret  door,  and  disappeared. 
James  opened  the  door  wide,  and  went 
up  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  garret  stairs, 
and  looked  into  the  garret.  It  was  rather 
dark  there,  and  the  boards  looked  loose 
on  the  floor,  and  there  were  a  great  many 
boxes  and  barrels  there,  and  James  was 
afraid  to  go  in.  So  he  stood  there  and 
called  "  Kitty,  kitty,  kitty."  But  the 
kitty  knew  him  by  this  time  too  well  to 
come. 

Now  James  began  to  be  sorry  that  he 
had   not  taken  his  father's  advice,   and 


HOW   TO   TREAT    A    KITTEN.  159 

treated  his  kitten  more  gently  and  kindly. 
He  was  afraid  she  was  lost,  and  that  he 
could  never  get  her  again. 

That  night,  at  tea  time,  when  his  father 
had  heard  all  about  it,  he  reproved  James 
for  his  harsh  and  cruel  treatment  of  his 
kitten,  and  told  him  that  he  thought  he 
deserved  to'  lose  her  entirely. 

"  Do  you  think  I  shall  lose  her  en- 
tirely? " 

"No,"  said  his  father,  "not  this  time. 
I  think  I  can  get  her  out  of  the  garret." 

"  How  ?  "   said  James. 

"  Why,  by  kindness  and  gentleness.  I 
shall  draw  her  out  by  doing  exactly  the 
opposite  to  what  you  did  to  drive  her  in. 
But  I  do  not  believe  it  will  do  any  good. 
I  do  not  think  you  will  ever  treat  her 
kindly  enough  to  make  her  trust  you." 

James  promised  that  he  would ;  but 
his  father  knew  that  he  did  not  always 
keep  his  promises. 


160  HOW   TO   TREAT   A    KITTEN. 

That  evening,  James'  father  poured  a 
little  milk  into  a  saucer,  and  he  and  James 
carried  it  up  garret,  and  put  it  upon  the 
floor,  and  then  came  directly  down  again. 
The  next  morning  they  went  up  to  look 
at  it,  and  found  that  the  milk  was  gone. 
They  then  brought  down  the  saucer,  filled 
it  again,  and  carried  it  back.  They  stop- 
ped a  minute  to  look  round  for  the  kitten, 
and  presently  they  saw  her  behind  a  bar- 
rel. James  wanted  to  go  and  catch  her, 
but  his  father  would  not  let  him.  His 
father  said,  "  Poor  pussy,  poor  pussy," 
in  a  gentle,  soothing  tone,  and  put  the 
saucer  down  where  she  could  see  it,  and 
then  led  James  away  down  stairs.  When 
he  went  out  that  morning,  he  forbid  James 
going  to  the  garret  till  he  came  home. 

At  noon  they  carried  some  more  milk 
up,  and  the  kitten  came  out  a  little  way 
towards  them. 


HOW   TO   TREAT   A   KITTEN.  161 

"There,"  said  James'  father,  "do  you 
not  see  the  effect  of  kindness?  " 

He  then  put  the  saucer  down,  and  went 
back  with  James  a  few  steps,  and  stood 
still.  The  kitten  came  up  to  the  saucer 
and  began  to  drink  the  milk. 

"  Now  let  us  go  and  catch  her,"  said 
James. 

"  No,"  said  his  father. 

After  the  kitten  had  drunk  all  the 
milk,  she  ran  back  behind  tho  barrel,  and 
James  and  his  father  came  down  stairs. 

The  next  time  they  went  up,  they  stood 
close  by  the  saucer,  and  the  kitten  came 
up  slowly  and  cautiously.  James'  father 
gently  stroked  her  back  while  she  was 
feeding,  and  James  thought  he  was  cer- 
tainly going  to  catch  her  then.  But  he 
did  not ;  he  let  her  drink  the  milk  and 
then  go  back  behind  the  barrels. 
14* 


162  HOW   TO    TREAT   A    KITTEN. 

"  Why,  father,  are  you  not  ever  going 
to  catch  her?  "  said  James. 

"Yes,"  said  his  father,  "when  the 
proper  time  comes  "  ;  and  they  went  down 
stairs. 

The  next  time  they  came,  the  kitten 
came  running  out  to  meet  them,  and  they 
held  the  saucer  down.  When  she  came 
near,  James'  father  reached  out  his  hand, 
and  took  her  up  gently  and  said,  "  Now 
we  will  carry  her  down  stairs." 

' '  Let  me  carry  her, ' '  said  James1. 

"  Well,  you  may,"  said  his  father  ;  "but 
you  must  hold  her  very  carefully."  So 
James  took  the  kitten,  and  his  father  took 
the  saucer,  and  they  went  down  stairs. 
They  put  the  kitten  and  the  saucer  under 
the  table,  and  pretty  soon,  though  she 
seemed  rather  frightened  at  first,  she  be- 
gan to  drink.  James'  father  forbid  his 
touching  her,  or  doing  any  thing  to  her, 
all  day. 


HOW   TO   TREAT   A    KITTEN.  163 

Thus,  in  a  few  days,  the  kitten  became 
considerably  tame,  and  would  let  James 
play  with  her,  but  he  soon  began  to  han- 
dle her  roughly  again.  He  would  pull 
her  by  the  tail,  and  carry  her  around 
under  his  arm,  and  try  to  make  her  stand 
up  on  her  hind  legs,  and  do  a  great  many 
other  things,  which  he  thought  was  very 
good  fun  for  him,  but  which  were  very 
terrifying  or  painful  to  her.  The  kitten 
became  very  much  afraid  of  him.  She 
would  never  let  him  play  with  her,  or 
catch  her,  if  she  could  possibly  get  away, 
and  often  in  struggling  to  get  away  she 
would  scratch  his  hands.  Thus  the  kit- 
ten hated  James,  and  James  soon  began 
to  hate  the  kitten. 

"  She  is  a  cross,  ugly,  good  for  nothing 
»ld  puss,"  said  he  one  day. 

"Very  well,"  said  his  father,  "then  I 
will  take  her  out  of  your  way." 


164  HOW   TO   TREAT   A   KITTEN. 

So  his  father  got  the  basket,  and  gut 
her  gently  in  it,  and  he  spread  the  cloth 
over  it,  and  tied  it  down ;  James  stood 
by,  looking  sorrowfully. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  her, 
father?  "  said  he. 

"I  am  going  to  take  her  out  of  your 
way.  She  shall  never  trouble  you  any 
more." 

Then  James'  father  put  on  his  hat,  and 
took  the  basket  and  walked  away. 

Some  months  afterwards  James  went 
to  see  Rollo.  He  found  Rollo  out  on  the 
platform,  in  the  garden-yard.  You  re- 
member the  picture  of  the  garden-yard. 
You  can  see  the  platform  in  the  picture 
if  you  look  back. 

When  James  arrived  at  the  house,  and 
went  through  to  the  yard  to  see  Rollo,  he 
found  him  playing  horses.     He  had  a  little 


HOW    TO    TREAT   A    KITTEN.  165 

wooden  cart,  very  small,  with,  a  string  tied 
to  it,  and  was  trotting  about  on  the  plat- 
form. And  who  do  you  think  he  had  in 
the  cart  for  a  driver  ?  Why,  it  was  a  lit- 
tle gray  kitten  I  She  was  lying  down  in 
the  cart  with  her  fore  paws  resting  on  the 
front  of  it,  and  her  chin  resting  on  her 
fore  paws,  and  she  seemed  to  enjoy  her 
ride  very  much.  She  looked  so  funny 
that  James  could  not  help  laughing. 

"Oh,  what  a  beautiful  kitten!"  said 
he.  "  I  wish  I  had  such  a  kitten.  I  had 
one  once,  but  she  was  not  such  a  tame, 
good  kitten  as  that,  —  she  was  an  old, 
cross,  ugly,  good  for  nothing  puss.  She 
did  nothing  but  scratch  me." 

Now  it  happened  that  this  was  the  very 
kitten  which  James  had,  though  James 
did  not  know  it.  His  father  had  come 
and  given  it  to  Rollo.     Rollo  called  her 


166  OVERBOARD. 

Ooty,  and  he  made  her  gentle  and  tame 
by  treating  her  kindly. 


OVERBOARD. 


Do  you  recollect  what  you  read  about 
Jonas'  raft  in  another  part  of  this  book  ? 
One  day,  when  Jonas  was  going  down  to 
the  brook  with  Rollo,  there  was  the  fol- 
lowing dialogue  between  Rollo' s  father 
and  mother. 

Mother.  I  am  afraid  to  have  Rollo 
sail  with  Jonas  on  that  raft,  as  he  calls 
it.  I  am  very  much  afraid  he  will  get 
in,  some  day. 

Father.     I  presume  he  will  get  in. 

Rollo's  mother  looked  surprised.  She 
thought  it  was  strange  that  his  father 
should  let  him  go  on  the  water,  when  he 
thought  he  probably  would  fall  in. 


OVERBOARD.  167 

Father.  Perhaps  I  ought  rather  to  say 
I  think  it  not  improbable  that  he  will 
get  in. 

Mother.  Why  then  do  you  allow  him 
to  go? 

Father.  Because  the  water  is  not  deep, 
and  with  Jonas  with  him,  who  is  a  strong 
and  a  faithful  boy,  I  think  he  cannot  be 
hurt ;  and  if  he  should  grow  careless  and 
inattentive,  and  fall  off  of  the  raft,  it  would 
do  him  a  great  deal  of  good. 

Mother.     What  good  would  it  do  him? 

Father.  It  would  make  him  more 
careful  in  future  ;  and  besides,  an  actual 
plunge  into  the  water  where  it  is  deep 
enough  to  frighten  a  boy,  will  teach  him 
more  of  the  nature  of  water,  than  an 
hour's  talk  to  him  about  its  properties. 
A  fall  off  of  Jonas'  raft  may,  not  very 
improbably,  be  the  means  of  saving  his 
life,  by  making  him  careful,  when  he 
shall  be  exposed  to  real  danger. 


168  OVERBOARD. 

Hollo's  father  was  right ;  Rollo  did  fall 
off.  One  day,  when  he  and  Jonas  were 
sailing  up  towards  the  bridge,  Jonas  was 
standing  behind  pushing,  and  Rollo  was 
sitting  on  before.  Rollo  took  up  a  long 
stick  which  was  on  the  raft,  and  thought 
he  would  stand  up,  and  push  too.  Jonas 
'stood  with  his  back  to  him,  and  did  not 
see  him.  Rollo  pushed  his  stick  down 
into  the  water,  but  the  bottom  was  farther 
off  than  it  seemed  to  be,  and  leaning  over, 
he  lost  his  balance,  and  away  he  went  all 
over  into  the  water.  In  an  instant  Jonas 
plunged  in  after  him,  and  dragged  him 
out  upon  the  bank.  The  raft,  left  to  it- 
self, floated  down  the  stream. 

Rollo's  mother  put  on  dry  clothes,  and 
when  Rollo  was  warm  again,  she  said, 

"Perhaps  now  you  think  I  shall  forbid 
your  going  down  to  the  brook  again,  but 
I  shall  not.  You  may  go  and  sail  again 
whenever  you  please." 


OLD  THINGS  AND  NEW  THINGS.    171 

She  knew  that  his  experience  would 
make  him  careful  in  future,  without  any 
censure  from  her. 


OLD   THINGS   AND   NEW  THINGS. 

Which  is  the  prettiest,  an  old  thing 
or  a  new  thing?  Oh,  a  new  thing  to  be 
sure,  you  say.  A  beautiful,  new  book, 
fresh  from  the  bookstore,  is  a  great  deal 
prettier  than  an  old,  worn  out,  tattered 
book,  that  you  have  had  a  great  while. 

Now  there  is  one  great  mistake  that 
small  boys  very  often  make.  They  think 
that  books  and  other  things  become  old 
and  worn  out,  only  because  they  have  had 
them  a  long  time ;  but  that  is  not  the  rea- 
son. I  have  seen  a  great  many  books, 
beautiful  books  too,  full  of  pictures,  and 


172    OLD  THINGS  AND  NEW  THINGS. 

they  had  been  kept  a  great  many  years, 
and  yet  they  were  not  old  and  worn  out. 
They  looked  just  as  well  as  when  they 
were  first  bought.  Now  I  am  going  to 
explain  to  you  here  how  you  may  keep 
your  things  so  that  they  shall  not  become 
old  and  worn  out. 

Suppose  your  father  should  bring  you 
home  a  beautiful  book  with  a  red  mo- 
rocco cover,  and  full  of  pictures.  It  looks 
new  and  beautiful.  Now  look  at  the 
cover  a  moment.  Do  you  suppose  the 
cover  is  red  all  through  ?  Suppose  any 
body  should  cut  the  corner  off  of  the 
cover,  should  you  expect  that  it  would  be 
red  all  through  where  they  cut  it?  It 
would  not.  It  is  only  red  outside.  The 
red  is  very  thin,  very  thin  indeed,  spread 
all  over  the  outside  of  the  cover.  You 
might  take  a  knife  and  scrape  it  off  in  a 
little  spot,  and  see  that  it  is  very  thin,  and 


OLD    THINGS   AND    NEW    THINGS.         173 

that  it  is  some  other  coL-1*  underneath. 
Perhaps  somebody  will  tuke  some  old 
book  which  is  not  good  for  much,  and 
show  you  what  I  mean.  You  must  not 
try  it  upon  any  good  books. 

Now  suppose  you  should  lay  your  red 
morocco  book  down  upon  the  floor,  and 
push  it  along,  the  floor  would  rub  off  a 
little  of  the  red  morocco.  And  then  sup- 
pose that  the  next  day  you  should  lay  it 
down  on  the  stone  steps,  the  rough  stone 
would  wear  off  more  of  the  red  morocco. 
And  then  suppose  that  you  should  lay  it 
down  open  upon  the  table,  or  floor ;  a 
little  dust  from  the  table  or  floor  would 
stick  to  the  leaves,  and  spoil  their  white- 
ness. And  then  suppose  you  should  let 
your  book  fall  from  a  chair  ;  it  would 
bruise  one  of  the  corners,  and  bend  it  up 
a  little.  So  if  you  go  on  a  great  many 
days  rubbing  your  book  upon  the  floor, 
15* 


174  SELLING   A    BOY. 

and  throwing  it  about,  and  tumbling  the 
leaves,  after  a  short  time  the  beautiful 
red  color  of  the  cover  would  be  worn  off 
in  spots,  and  the  white  paper  would  get 
soiled,  and  the  corners  very  much  bruised, 
and  the  book  would  begin  to  look  old  and 
tattered  and  torn.  It  would  become  an 
old,  worn  out  book,  not  because  you  had 
kept  it  so  long,  but  because  you  had  used 
it  roughly. 


SELLING  A  BOY. 


Once  there  was  a  man  who  was  very 
poor.  He  had  to  work  very  hard  to  get 
money ;  but  he  found  it  very  hard  to  get 
money  enough  to  buy  bread  for  himself, 
and  his  wife,  and  his  little  boy.  So  he 
thought  he  would  go  and  see  if  he  could 
not  sell  his  little  boy.     He  took  him  up 


SELLING   A    BOY.  175 

in  his  arms,  and  went  out  into  the  street, 
and  walked  along  until  he  came  to  a  shoe- 
maker's shop.  He  thought  that  perhaps 
the  shoemaker  would  like  to  buy  him. 

So  he  stopped  and  looked  in  at  the 
window,  and  said, 

"  Shoemaker,  —  Mr.  Shoemaker,  —  do 
you  want  to  buy  a  little  boy  ?  ' ' 

And  the  shoen^ker  said,  "  Is  it  a  good 
little  boy  ?  ' ' 

And  the  man  said,  "  Yes,  he  is  an  ex- 
cellent little  boy.  He  always  obeys  me 
exactly,  and  he  is  kind  and  gentle,  and 
not  troublesome,  and  he  tries  to  do  right ; 
if  you  buy  him,  by  and  by  when  he  grows 
up,  he  can  work  with  you,  and  help  you 
make  shoes." 

"  Well,"  said  the  shoemaker,  "  I  will 
give  you  a  dollar  for  him." 

"A  dollar,"  said  the  man,  thinking, 
"  shall  I  take  a  dollar  for  my  little  boy  ? 


176  SELLING   A   BOY. 

Then  I  should  go  home  alone,  and  have 
nobody  to  play  with  me,  and  get  up  in 
my  lap,  and  hear  me  tell  stories.  ~No, 
no,  no,  I  will  not  sell  my  little  boy  for  a 
dollar."     So  he  walked  on. 

Presently  he  came  to  a  carpenter's 
shop.   He  stopped  at  the  window,  and  said, 

"  Carpenter,  —  Mr.  Carpenter, —  should 
you  like  to  buy  a  little  boy  ?  ' ' 

"A  little  boy!"  said  the  carpenter; 
"  what  sort  of  a  boy  is  he  ?  " 

"Oh,"  said  the  man,  "he  is  an  Excel- 
lent little  boy.  I  love  him  very  much, 
but  I  have  to  sell  him  because  I  want 
some  money  to  buy  me  some  bread.  But 
he  is  a  good  boy.  He  is  obedient  and 
faithful,  and  when  he  grows  up  he  can 
help  you  saw  boards  and  drive  nails. 
The  shoemaker  offered  me  a  dollar,  but  I 
could  not  sell  him  for  a  dollar." 

"  Well,"  said  the   carpenter,   "  I  will 


SELLING   A    BOY.  177 

give  you  ten  dollars  for  him,  for  he  looks 
like  a  pretty  good  boy." 

"Ten  dollars,"  said  the  man,  thinking, 
"  ten  dollars.  Shall  I  sell  my  little  boy 
for  ten  dollars  ?  That  would  buy  me  a 
good  deal  of  bread,  but  then  I  should  not 
have  any  little  boy.  I  should  have  no- 
body to  come  and  meet  me  when  I  get 
home,  or  to  sit  still  by  my  side  when  I 
am  tired.  No,  no,  no,  I  cannot  sell  my 
little  boy  for  ten  dollars."  So  he  left  the 
carpenter's  and  walked  on. 

The  next  place  lift  came  to  was  a  mill. 
There  was  a  great  wheel  spinning  round 
and  round  in  the  water,  and  some  carts 
filled  with  bags  of  wheat  at  the  door. 
They  were  going  to  grind  the  wheat  into 
flour.  The  miller  came  out  to  the  door. 
His  clothes  looked  white.  The  man  said 
to  him, 

"Miller,  —  Mr.  Miller, —  I  have  got  a 


178  SELLING   A   BOY. 

boy  to  sell.  Do  you  want  to  buy  him  t  '* 
As  he  said  this  he  showed  the  miller  the 
little  boy  who  was  in  his  arms. 

"Is  he  a  good  boy,  or  a  naughty  boy  ?  " 
asked  the  miller;  "for  I  am  sure  I  do 
not  want  to  buy  any  naughty  boys." 

"Oh,  he  is  a  very  good  boy,"  said  the 
man.  "  He  does  not  cry,  only  when  he 
hurts  himself,  and  then  he  stops  crying  as 
soon  as  he  can.  He  is  not  cross,  or  fret- 
ful, or  disobedient,  or  troublesome.  I 
know  you  will  like  him,  and  he  will  help 
you  a  good  deal  in  your  mill." 

"  Well,"  said  the  miller,  "  I  think  he  is 
a  good  boy,  and  I  should  like  a  good  boy 
in  my  mill  very  much.  He  could  tie  up 
the  bags,  and  hold  the  horses  at  the  door. 
I  will  give  you  a  hundred  dollars  for  him." 

"A  hundred  dollars!"  said  the  man, 
"that's  a  good  deal  of  money.  I  could 
buy  a  great  many  loaves  of  bread  with  a 


SELLING   A    BOY.  179 

hundi-ed  dollars.  I  could  buy  bread 
enough  to  last  me  a  year,  and  as  long  as 
the  money  should  last  I  could  have  a  fine 
time  resting  from  all  my  hard  work.  But 
then  I  should  never  see  my  poor  little  boy 
any  more.  And  then  perhaps,  he  would 
not  be  happy  with  the  miller.  He  may 
have  to  work  too  hard,  and  perhaps  some 
of  the  horses  which  he  would  have  to  hold 
might  kick  him.  No,  I  will  not  sell  him 
to  the  miller  for  a  hundred  dollars,  after 
all.  I  had  rather  carry  him  home,  and 
work  the  harder." 

So  he  left  the  miller  and  walked  on. 
He  thought  that  perhaps  somebody  would 
give  him  more  money  for  his  boy.  He 
walked  on  a  little  way  and  came  to  a 
large,  beautiful  white  house  by  the  side 
of  the  road.  It  belonged  to  a  rich  gen- 
tleman, who  was  standing  at  the  door. 

He  thought  he  would  go  and  offer  him 
to  this  rich   gentleman.      While  he  was 


180  SELLING   A   BOY. 

hesitating,  he  looked  into  his  little  boy's 
face,  and  he  was  so  pleasant,  and  looked 
so  gentle  and  kind,  that  the  man  could 
not  bear  to  sell  him. 

"  No,  no,  no,"  said  he,  "  I  will  not  sell 
my  little  boy  at  all.  I  have  kept  him  a 
good  while,  and  taken  care  of  him,  and  I 
love  him  very  much.  No,  I  will  not  sell 
him.  I  will  carry  him  home,  and  work 
very  hard  to  get  bread  for  him  to  eat. 
And  he  will  be  kind,  and  dutiful,  and 
obedient,  and  when  I  grow  old  perhaps 
he  will  take  care  of  me.  No,  no,  I  would 
not  sell  him  for  a  thousand  dollars." 

This  is  a  fictitious  story.  It  is  written 
to  teach  children  that  if  they  are  good, 
and  kind,  and  obedient,  their  fathers  will 
love  them,  and  work  hard,  if  necessary, 
to  get  them  bread,  and  will  not  sell  them, 
even  if  any  body  should  offer  them  a 
thousand  dollars. 


**-     ■« 


